tihxavy  of  Che  theological  ^eminarjo 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

The  Estate  of  the 
Rev.  John  B,  Wiedlnp-er 
BV  4501  .C69  1912 
Conwell,  Russell  Herman, 
1843-1925. 


How  to  live  the  Christ  life 


How  to  Live  the  Christ  Life 


How   to   Live 
The  Christ  Life 


RUSSELL  H.tONWELL 


New  York       Chicago       Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 
London       and       Edinburgh 


Copyright,  191 2,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  125  North  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:      100    Princes    Street 


Contents 

I. 

Your  Salvation    . 

.        7 

II. 

How  TO  Pray 

.      29 

III. 

Food  for  the  Poor 

.      42 

IV. 

It  Pays  to  Give  to  God 

.      59 

V. 

Gracefulness 

'      72 

VI. 

Work  Should  Be  Play 

35 

VII. 

Amusements 

.      lOI 

VIII. 

Through  the  Commandments  tc 
Christ    .... 

.    115 

IX. 

Not  Weary  of  Well-Doing 

.     131 

X. 

Pity  Brings  Strength  . 

.     152 

XI. 

A  Shining  Face    . 

.     167 

XII. 

The  Spiritual  Fountain 

.     178 

XIII. 

Friendship  for  the  Church 

.     192 

XIV. 

I  Shall  Be  Satisfied    . 

.    205 

I 


YOUR  SALVATION 

"  Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trem- 
bling."    {Phil.  a.  12.) 

"  If  you  cannot,  on  the  ocean,  sail  among  the  swiftest 
fleet, 
Rocking   on  the  highest  billows,  laughing  at  the 
storms  you  meet." 

If  you  cannot  do  the  great  deeds,  you  can 
do  the  little  ones. 

**  You   can    stand   among  the  sailors  anchored  yet 
within  the  bay, 
You  can  lend  a  hand  to  help  them,  as  they  launch 
their  boats  away. 

"  If  you  are  too  weak  to  journey  up  the  mountain 
steep  and  high, 
You  can  stand  within  the  valley,  as  the  multitudes 

goby;  ,        ,      , 

You  can  chant  in  tuneful  measure,  as  they  slowly 

pass  along  ; 
Though  they  may  forget  the  singer,  they  will  not 

forget  the  song. 

«  If  you  cannot,  in  the  conflict,  prove  yourself  a  war- 
rior true ; 
If,  where  fire  and  smoke  are  thickest,   there's  no 
work  for  you  to  do ; 

7 


8      HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

When  the  battle-field  is  silent,  you  can  go  with  care- 
ful tread ; 

You  can  bear  away  the  wounded,  you  can  cover  up 
the  dead. 

"  If  you  cannot,  in  the  harvest,  garner  up  the  richest 

sheaves ; 
Many   a  grain,  both   ripe  and  golden,  which  the 

careless  reaper  leaves 
You    can   find   among   the  briars,    growing  rank 

against  the  wall ; 
And  it  may  be  that  the  shadows  hide  the  heaviest 

wheat  of  all. 

"  If  you  have  not  gold  and  silver  ever  ready  at  com- 
mand. 

If  you  cannot  toward  the  needy  reach  an  ever  open 
hand. 

You  can  visit  the  afflicted,  o'er  the  erring  you  can 
weep. 

You  can  be  a  true  disciple,  sitting  at  the  Saviour's 
feet. 

"  Do  not,  then,  stand  idly  waiting  for  some  greater 
work  to  do, 

Fortune  is  a  lazy  goddess  ;  she  will  never  come  to 
you. 

Go,  and  toil  in  any  vineyard — do  not  fear  to  do  or 
dare, 

If  you  want  a  field  of  labour,  you  can  find  it  any- 
where." 

And  when  God  says  to  us,  through  the  in- 
spired apostle,  that  we  must  "  work  out  our 
own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling,"  He 
means  that  there  is  a  place  of  labour  for  every 
one  of  us,  and  we  should  be  at  work  in  it 


YOUE  SALVATION  9 

There  is  a  wide  difference  between  Chris- 
tianity and  heathenism,  in  this,  that  the  Chi- 
nese, and  the  heathen  of  India,  and  the 
heathen  of  the  Islands  of  the  Sea,  all  have  a 
reHgion  which  says,  "  Do  not,  do  not." 
Christ's  words,  '*  Do  unto  others  as  you 
would  have  others  do  unto  you,"  were 
spoken  in  China  long  before  His  time,  only 
they  were  reversed.  They  said,  "  Do  not 
unto  others  as  you  would  not  have  any  one 
do  to  you."  That  is  the  chief  characteristic. 
They  are  negative ;  and  instead  of  saying, 
*'  Go,  work,"  they  say,  *'  Do  not,  go  not." 
But  over  against  this  is  Christianity,  which 
says,  **  Do,  do,  do  !  "  There's  a  work  for  us 
to  do,  if  we  are  to  be  saved,  and  if  the  world 
is  to  be  saved.  Christ  says,  **  Go,  work  in 
My  vineyard,"  and  if  a  man  says,  **  I  find 
nothing  to  do,"  or  if  a  woman  says,  **  I  find 
there  is  nothing  that  I  can  perform,"  there  is 
a  lack  somewhere ;  because  God  furnishes  a 
work  for  every  one  of  us  to  do.  There  is  a 
work  for  you,  and  for  me,  and  if  we  would 
be  saved,  or  if  we  would  save  others,  we 
must  work  out  that  salvation,  both  for  our- 
selves and  for  them. 

If  a  person  does  not  work,  he  stands  in  the 
way  of  those  who  do.  That  is  one  thing 
that  Scriptures  and  common  sense  both  teach 


10    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

us  ;  he  either  stands  in  other  people's  way  or 
the  world  goes  on  and  leaves  him  behind. 

If  a  person  stands  still,  as  in  a  balloon,  if 
he  get  high  enough,  the  world  would  go  on, 
and  leave  him  ;  and  if  he  reached  the  top  of 
the  atmosphere,  and  there  rested,  the  world 
would  go  on,  and  when  he  came  down  he 
would  find  the  world  had  passed  him  at  the 
rate  of  many  thousand  miles  a  minute.  And 
it  is  just  so  with  the  Christian  who  tries  to 
stand  still,  and  with  any  man  in  the  com- 
munity who  tries  to  stand  still ;  and  every 
person  who  is  not  advancing,  unless  he  is  in 
some  one's  way  is  so  far  above  that  the 
world  is  going  on,  and  leaving  him  behind. 
To  be  without  work  means  to  decay,  and  to 
grow  unseemly — to  putrefy  ;  to  stop  work 
means  to  rest  like  the  water  in  the  pool  that 
is  not  stirred  by  a  fish  or  by  a  fowl,  or  the 
wind  of  heaven ;  it  becomes  covered  with 
scum,  and  fills  itself  with  miasma ;  it  not  only 
poisons  itself,  and  is  fearful  looking,  but  it 
spreads  abroad,  through  all  the  neighbour- 
hood, terrible  diseases.  The  heart,  whether 
it  claims  to  be  a  Christian,  or  not,  has  just 
the  same  effect  on  itself  and  on  others  in  its 
vicinity,  if  it  stops  doing  its  duty.  As  I  have 
said,  a  man  either  stagnates,  or  the  world 
passes  on  and  leaves  him,  or  he  is  in  other 


YOUE  SALVATION  11 

persons'  way.  If  he  cannot  get  up  in  some 
high,  theological  balloon,  he  is  down  among 
men,  and  in  the  crowd  ;  and  when  a  per- 
son walking  along,  going  with  the  crowd, 
suddenly  stops,  every  one  runs  against  him, 
the  crowd  thickens  about  him,  and  the 
policemen  rush  up  to  see  if  there  is  any  diffi- 
culty in  which  they  need  to  interfere.  What 
is  the  trouble  ?  Nothing  more  than  a  man 
stopping  on  the  sidewalk,  as  the  great  pres- 
sure moves  down  the  street. 

So  in  Christianity,  if  a  man  stops,  he  is  in 
other  persons*  way,  and  makes  great  trouble. 
The  Bible  never  says  a  man  should  stand  still 
in  a  crowd. 

He  may  know  by  the  amount  of  work  he 
does,  or  is  willing  to  do,  in  what  stage  of 
Christian  development  he  is.  To  stop  is  a 
kind  of  treachery. 

I  remember  when  I  was  a  child,  seeing  a 
little  bird  which  was  left  at  our  house  by  the 
man  who  owned  it.  That  little  bird  laid 
eggs  there,  and  hatched  them  out  into  little 
birdies.  It  was  an  exceedingly  interesting 
thing  to  me.  I  remember  climbing  up  on  a 
chair,  and  tipping  the  chair  over  in  climbing 
up,  to  see  those  little  birdies.  How  my  little 
roguish  fingers  ached  to  get  hold  of  them. 
But  my  mother  told  me  it  would  be  very 


12    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

cruel,  because  the  old  bird  wished  to  bring 
them  up.  She  said  they  would  have  wings, 
and  feathers,  and  would  be  able  to  fly,  after 
a  while,  and  we  would  have  more  cages,  and 
more  little  birdies  in  them,  to  sing  around 
the  house.  But  that  old  bird  fed  them  for 
one  or  two  days.  Then  she  just  stopped, 
and  sat  up  on  the  perch  in  the  cage,  twitted 
and  chirped  away,  and  did  not  go  near  the 
nest  at  all.  She  rested  up  there  at  night, 
and  in  the  daytime  she  would  not  go  near 
them,  even  when  the  little  mouths  would  open. 
We  would  watch  them  until  the  tears  would 
start  down  our  faces.  We  tried  to  feed  them 
by  dropping  crumbs  down  their  mouths,  and 
we  kept  them  alive  for  a  few  days  in  that 
way,  but  it  was  of  no  use.  The  old  bird  did 
not  care  anything  about  them.  I  never  saw 
such  a  hard-hearted  wretch  (outside  of  hu- 
manity) in  all  my  life  as  that  mother-bird 
was  so  to  neglect  her  own.  The  birdies  all 
died,  and  my  little  sister  and  I  dug  a  grave 
for  each  of  them,  and  buried  them. 

I  have  always  since  had  an  extreme  hatred 
of  such  treachery  as  that.  But  it  illustrates 
how  a  man  or  a  woman  may  stop,  and  others 
starve,  and  suffer,  and  die,  because  we  cease 
to  do  for  them.  It  is  our  duty  to  go  on. 
The  Bible  insists  upon  this.     It  is  treachery 


YOUE  SALVATION  13 

to  a  friend  to  stop.  You  sometimes  see  a 
Christian  who  says,  "I  don't  do  wrong — I 
never  lie,  or  steal,  or  rob.  I  am  all  right.  I 
never  do  anything  that  is  wrong."  You 
sometimes  hear  Christian  men  and  women 
say  they  will  not  do  anything  one  way  or 
another, — "  I  never  do  anybody  any  harm." 

They  have  friends,  perhaps,  to  whom  they 
are  greatly  indebted,  perhaps  friends  who 
have  helped  them  by  lending  them  money 
or  spending  time  for  them,  or  by  giving  them 
their  reputation,  or,  it  may  be  a  friend  has,  in 
times  past,  braved  danger  to  save  them  ;  and 
when  the  time  comes  for  this  person  to  need 
a  defense,  this  one  who  has  been  helped, 
this  moral,  just.  Christian  man,  who  **  never 
does  any  one  any  harm,"  when  the  time 
comes  for  him  to  speak,  to  contend,  to  strike 
a  blow  in  defense  of  his  friend,  he  says,  **  I 
never  take  a  share  in  any  quarrels ;  I  never 
say  anything  for  my  friends,  or  against 
them  ;  I  just  stop,  and  do  nothing." 

Such  a  man  is  a  traitor,  such  a  man  is  a 
kind  of  Satan ;  he  is  beneath  reproach,  a 
man  who  will  stand  quiet  when  his  word,  or 
action,  or  blow,  would  defend  his  friend. 

And  yet  many  Christians  reason  out  of  the 
Bible,  somehow,  that  it  is  their  duty  to  leave 
everything  to  Christ,  and   to  God,  and  to 


14    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

other  people,  and  that  they  may  only  stand 
and  look  on.  That  is  hideous  treachery. 
"  He  that  hath  friends  must  show  himself 
friendly,"  or  else  he  is  a  traitor  to  those 
friends.  There  is  no  "standing  still"  in 
friendship  or  patriotism.  A  man  may  say, 
**  I  am  a  patriot,  and  love  my  country,"  but 
when  the  time  comes  to  defend  his  city,  or 
home,  or  state,  if  he  simply  stands  still,  and 
says,  **  Oh,  I  never  did  anything  against  my 
nation ;  I  am  all  right,  I  am  all  pure,  1  am  a 
patriot,  because  I  have  not  done  any  harm," 
that  man  is  a  traitor.  Yea,  the  man  that  can 
help  his  nation,  and  will  not  make  an  effort 
to  do  so,  is  a  sinner.  Far  better  be  decidedly 
on  one  side  or  the  other,  far  better  be  an 
open  enemy,  than  be  neither  hot  nor  cold, 
and  be  spued  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  nation, 
as  the  churches  of  old  were  spued  out  of  the 
mouth  of  God. 

The  man  who  stands  still  in  the  service  of 
God  is  a  traitor.  God  saith,  "  Go,  work  in 
My  vineyard  ;  go,  do  something  for  Me." 
God  desires  that  heaven  shall  be  peopled 
with  every  human  soul  He  has^created  ;  He 
desires  that  none  should  be  lost.  The  gates  of 
heaven  are  left  open  all  the  time,  and  He 
desires  to  have  you  direct  souls  into  the 
gateways. 


YOUE  SALVATION  15 

Do  you  say,  "  But  I  am  not  going  to  inter- 
fere with  this  matter  at  all.  I  am  going  to 
be  one  of  the  non-combatants.  I  go  to  church, 
I  say  my  prayers,  and  read  my  Bible.  No 
one  ever  heard  me  utter  a  bad  word,  or  tell 
a  lie.  No  one  ever  heard  me  say  or  saw  me 
do  anything  wrong."  Ah,  no;  but  who  has 
ever  heard  you  speak  or  has  seen  you  do 
anything  good  ?  The  Bible  says,  **  Cease  to 
do  evil,  and  learn  to  do  well."  "  No  man  can 
be  on  both  sides  at  the  same  time,"  says 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  man  who  tries  to  be 
is  the  most  contemptible  sort  of  character. 
The  man  who  is  always  **  on  the  fence," 
ready  to  declare  at  any  time  for  what  may 
appear  to  be  the  winning  side,  or  the  side 
that  will  best  serve  his  selfish  interests,  has 
received,  and  has  well  deserved  to  receive, 
the  contempt  of  the  public  for  the  last  two 
thousand  years. 

When  we  bring  this  into  theology  we  bring 
in  a  most  contemptible  spirit,  and  one  which 
is  against  every  precept  and  expression  in 
God's  holy  word. 

A  lazy  man  is  a  dangerous  man,  anyhow. 
We  know  that.  Ah  !  what  have  been  the 
dangers  of  this  nation  from  lazy  men  ? 

Men  amass  a  million  of  dollars,  and  feel 
themselves   a    rich  aristocracy,  and  because 


16    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

they  are  not  compelled  to  labour  with  their 
hands  for  a  living,  and  because  they  are  not 
compelled  to  labour  very  much  with  their 
brains — because  they  are  free  to  do  as  they 
please — they  become  a  very  dangerous  class. 

If  this  nation  is  threatened  with  any  danger, 
as  a  nation,  and  if  our  communities  are 
threatened  with  any  danger  that  is  greater 
than  others  at  this  time,  it  is  the  danger  that 
comes  from  immensely  wealthy  men,  and 
from  immensely  rich  corporations,  who, 
growing  idle  in  their  wealth,  growing  lazy, 
and  having  no  sympathy  with  working  men, 
getting  afar  ofi[  from  those  who  labour,  begin 
to  think  the  world  was  made  for  them,  that 
it  is  for  their  entire  use  and  benefit  that  God, 
and  Providence,  and  mankind  are  working, 
and  that  all  the  rest  of  the  world  is  working 
just  to  pander  to  their  every  taste  and  desire. 
They  begin  to  feel  that  they  are  little  gods 
on  earth,  and  because  they  have  a  million, 
or  two  million,  or  a  hundred  million  of  dol- 
lars, they  think  they  have  the  right  to  put 
their  foot  on  the  neck  of  every  man  who 
works,  and  put  their  heel  on  every  one  who 
labours  for  his  living. 

There  was  a  time  when  corporations  were 
a  good  thing ;  to  have  a  railroad  from  here 
to  San  Francisco  was  a  great  thing  for  the 


YOUR  SALYATIOK  17 

labouring  man, — but  only  just  so  long  as  it 
was  next  to  the  labouring  man.  So  soon  as 
the  aristocracy  got  control  of  it  (a  lot  of  men 
who  draw  from  the  world  its  most  desirable 
things,  and  give  nothing  in  return),  just  that 
soon  did  it  become  a  curse  to  the  land,  and 
unless  God  interferes  there  will  be  woe  ahead 
of  us,  because  of  this  idle  rich  class  in  the 
community. 

But  there  is  hope  ahead.  With  a  great 
deal  of  satisfaction  I  have  watched  the  prog- 
ress of  scientific  discoveries  of  the  last  five 
years.  They  are  getting  things  so  perfected 
now  that  you  can  take  a  machine,  and  set  it 
up  in  your  own  home,  and  you  can  manu- 
facture cloth,  and  hosiery,  and  almost  every- 
thing that  is  made,  of  the  small  wares,  such 
as  cutlery  and  other  things,  which  are  manu- 
factured by  the  most  gigantic  corporations. 
If  you  have  enterprise  and  skill  of  fingers 
you  can  use  them  in  this  way. 

There  is  hope  for  the  labouring  man. 
God,  who  sees  the  labouring  man,  and  to 
whom  the  labourer  is  especially  dear,  is 
working  out  this  problem  for  us,  and  through 
the  improvements  in  machinery  is  putting 
more  power  into  the  hands  and  brains  of  the 
labourers,  and  capital  and  corporations  must 
go  to  the  wall,  or  give  such  concessions  as 


18    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

will  make  labour  more  free.  I  can  see  that 
not  far  distant. 

There  is  hope  ahead,  for  the  labouring  peo- 
ple are  being  educated.  The  "  lower  classes  " 
(as  we  often  call  them),  as  they  flow  into  this 
country,  are  being  given  a  common  school, 
or  a  private  school  education ;  and,  by  and  by, 
unless,  through  this  other  provision — the  im- 
provement of  machinery — labourers  are  saved, 
they  will  arise  in  their  might,  and,  working 
together,  will  tax  heavily,  as  it  ought  to  be 
taxed,  the  property  of  every  man  who  is 
worth  more  than  a  million  of  dollars. 

No  man  has  a  right  to  own  a  million  of 
dollars  in  a  community  where  men  are  dying 
of  starvation. 

These  labourers  will,  by  and  by,  see  that 
they  have  the  power — if  they  possess  the  dis- 
position to  work  together  as  a  single  party — 
and  they  will  rise,  and  free  themselves  from 
the  oppression  of  this  idle  rich  class  that 
now  threatens  them  with  a  kind  of  slavery ; 
and  the  time  will  come  soon  when  each  man, 
understanding  how  to  combine  with  others 
against  capital,  can  win  improvements  for 
himself  and  for  his  nation. 

There  is  hope  ahead  ;  but  yet  while  this 
idle  class,  this  non-labouring  class  of  rich 
men  is  a  danger  to  the  nation,  there  is  great 


YOUE  SALVATION  19 

danger,  on  the  other  hand,  from  the  idle 
classes  of  the  poor. 

You  remember  how  it  was  out  in  Pittsburgh 
when  they  had  the  great  strike.  They  were 
poor  men,  and  out  of  employment.  The 
streets  were  not  safe  for  a  woman  at  any 
hour  of  the  night,  or  of  the  day  ;  and  when 
men  went  out  in  the  streets,  they  carried  re- 
volvers or  dirk  knives  in  their  hands  for  de- 
fense against  the  out-of-work  population. 

Thus  we  see  in  practical  life  everywhere, 
to  be  out  of  work  is  not  only  to  be  a  curse 
to  one's  self,  but  a  danger  to  the  community. 
We  have  seen  it  in  Philadelphia  ;  in  time  of 
strikes,  women  dared  not  go  out-of-doors, 
and  people  double-locked  their  houses  at 
night,  and  wanted  more  policemen — because 
of  the  strikes  and  idleness  of  the  working 
men. 

Throw  out  of  work  all  the  working  people 
of  this  city,  and  how  soon  it  would  go  down 
in  a  volcano  of  flames  ! 

It  is  so  when  the  church  has  in  it  lazy 
people,  and  members  who  will  not  work,  and 
people  who  are  in  the  way.  They  may  get 
up  so  high  above  the  rest  that  work  will  go 
on  without  them.  But  if  they  stay  down 
with  the  church  they  will  be  in  the  way,  or 
a  standing  curse  to  the  church  because  of 


20    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

their  lack  of  work.  When  persons  choose 
the  church,  choose  God,  and  then  stop,  they 
stagnate,  and  spread  miasma.  It  is  a  trai- 
torous position  towards  the  church,  and  it  is 
trying  to  use  deception  with  God.  When 
He  says,  "Work  out  your  own  salvation," 
no  man  has  the  right  to  cease  to  work. 
Work,  work  for  everybody,  is  the  only  secu- 
rity against  stagnation,  and  division  in 
churches.  Many  Christian  brethren,  minis- 
terial brethren,  have  said  to  me  :  **  Your  great 
church  cannot  hold  together  as  human  nature 
is.  It  stands  to  reason  that  when  you  can- 
not get  your  own  members  into  the  church 
building  there  will  come  a  time  when  they 
will  all  want  to  get  in,  and  when  men  jostle 
each  other,  and  when  people  stand  in  crowds, 
they  naturally  become  irritable,  and  there 
will  come  a  great  division  in  your  church,  in 
the  ordinary  course  of  nature." 

That  certainly  will  come  (as  far  as  we  can 
judge  by  human  nature)  unless  this  church  is 
kept  at  work.  But  working  people,  when 
busy  doing  some  favourite  duty,  never  stop 
to  quarrel.  It  is  the  lazy  people  who  quarrel ; 
it  is  the  lazy  people  who  gossip  ;  it  is  the  lazy 
people  who  spread  trouble  through  the  church, 
and  who  do  nothing  but  talk  about  others ; 
it  is  not  they  who  are  actively  at  work.     If 


YOUE  SALVATION  21 

this  church  would  save  itself  from  future  dis- 
solution it  must  be  at  work. 

Yet  we  say,  "  Faith  must  go  with  work." 
Yes,  that  is  so ;  faith  must  go  with  work,  but 
we  have  not  dwelt  enough  on  work.  We 
have  been  taught  the  theory,  which  never 
came  into  our  creed  by  right,  that  "  nothing 
either  great  or  small  remains  for  me  to  do," 
and  that,  if  we  will  only  just  trust  in  Christ, 
and  believe  in  Him,  it  is  all  right,  and  we  can 
sit  down  and  wait  until  the  car  moves.  That 
is  all  we  have  to  do ;  if  we  only  believe  in 
Christ,  that  is  the  end  of  it.  We  have  been 
taught,  again  and  again,  that  there  is  no 
merit  in  works,  nothing  you  or  I  can  do  to  win 
the  favour  of  God.  But  that  it  is  all  through 
the  great  mercy  and  intercession  of  Jesus 
Christ.  That  goes  to  the  extreme,  which 
makes  it  falsehood,  and  denies  the  words  of 
Christ  when  He  says,  "  Work  out  your  own 
salvation,"  and  when  He  tells  us  to  go  and 
work  in  His  vineyard.  What  does  God  say  ? 
**  Every  man  shall  be  rewarded  according  to 
the  deeds  done  in  the  body." 

The  fact  is,  faith  must  go  with  works. 
You  cannot  separate  them :  and  when  a  man 
would  teach,  or  when  Christians  would  believe, 
that  now  all  they  have  to  do  is  to  lie  on 
"flowery   beds  of   ease,"    and  wait  for  the 


22    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

angels  to  "carry  them  to  the  skies,"  they 
will  not  do  so.  Unless  we  work  no  angels  of 
God  will  come  for  us.  If  we  think  they  will 
we  have  entirely  mistaken  the  teaching  of  the 
Bible.  To  take  one  particular  clause  in  the 
Bible,  to  be  taught  James'  side,  or  Paul's  side, 
without  taking  in  the  others',  is  an  entire 
mistake.  We  cannot  make  much  of  an  error 
in  dwelling  entirely  upon  good  deeds,  because 
we  have  heard  so  much  on  the  other  side. 

I  never  wish  to  hear  any  one  sing,  "  Noth- 
ing either  great  or  small  remains  for  me  to 
do,"  because  the  man  is  an  infidel  who  be- 
lieves that,  and  I  don't  believe  the  person 
who  wrote  that  hymn  really  meant  all  that 
the  line  implies.  There  is  no  such  thing  as 
inactive  Christianity,  and  God  teaches  us  we 
ought  to  encourage  good  works,  and  reward 
good  works,  and  praise  good  works,  instead 
of  belittling  them.  We  see  a  member  of  the 
church  who  is  doing  noble  deeds,  and  we  say, 
**  We  must  not  praise  him,  because  he  must 
not  accept  praise.  He  is  saved  by  the 
extreme  mercy  of  God,  and  not  by  what  he 
does."  All  of  which  is  true,  if  you  only  com- 
bine the  two,  but  the  Scriptures  teach  us  that 
we  ought  to  honour  men  who  have  Christian 
character  and  do  Christian  work.  We  erect 
monuments  to  men  who  cross  the  seas,  and 


YOUR  SALVATION  23 

find  new  continents  ;  we  erect  monuments  to 
them  for  the  deeds  that  they  have  done. 
We  erect  columns  to  great  generals,  who 
have  led  armies  to  victory — for  the  deeds 
that  they  have  done.  Why  should  we  not 
honour  earnest  Christians  if  they  do  great 
deeds,  and  erect  monuments  to  good  men  for 
the  deeds  they  have  done  ? 

We  should  not  wish  to  take  to  ourselves 
praise ;  and  when  we  have  done  a  good  deed 
we  should,  as  Christians,  say  that  we  have 
done  nothing,  and  that  we  have  not  laboured 
at  all,  that  it  is  not  us  at  all,  it  is  all  God 
and  all  Christ.  We  own  that  we  have  not 
amounted  to  much ;  we  are  but  worms  of  the 
dust  that  crawl  upon  the  ground  ;  even  if  we 
have  done  something,  God  commanded  us 
to  do  it,  and  if  we  had  not  done  it  we  would 
have  been  the  most  ungrateful  of  creatures. 
But  for  all  that,  a  Christian  man  has  a  right 
to  rejoice,  and  it  is  time  that  the  world  recog- 
nized it.  When,  in  the  old  Spartan  day,  a  man, 
stripped  to  the  waist,  went  out  with  his  sword 
and  shield  to  fight  for  his  country,  if  he  came 
back  alive  and  victorious,  even  though  his 
sword  was  broken  and  his  body  covered  with 
wounds,  he  was  received  with  loud  acclaim 
by  his  countrymen.  He  had  done  good 
deeds,  and  he  knew  he  had  done  them,  and 


24    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

that  he  had  a  right  to  be  proud  of  it.  And 
when  Spartacus  uttered  that  wonderful  speech 
in  Rome,  that  speech  which  has  been  consid- 
ered the  model  of  warlike  orations,  he  took 
pride  in  never  having  lowered  his  arm  in 
defeat.  It  was  something  to  respect  and 
honour,  because  what  he  said  was  true. 
Then,  in  the  old  Roman  days,  when  Cin- 
cinnatus  went  back  to  his  plow  ;  after  having 
saved  his  nation,  he  returned  to  his  humble 
pursuits,  he  went  back  with  the  consciousness 
of  a  deed  well  done,  and  he  was  not  afraid  to 
say  so.  He  said,  '*  I  have  done  this,  and  I 
am  proud  of  it."  And  a  man  ought  to  find 
satisfaction  in  his  Christianity. 

The  old  Roman  matron,  when  her  friends 
came  and  asked  to  see  her  most  precious 
jewels,  gathered  her  children  around  her,  and 
said,  **  These  are  my  jewels."  She  was  proud 
of  having  been  a  good  mother  ;  and  to  be  a 
good  mother  is  to  be  a  Christian  mother.  A 
Christian  mother  is  a  good  mother,  in  the 
best  sense.  We  often  misunderstand  the  fact 
that  God  is  gentleness  and  God  is  love,  and 
that  the  mother's  heart  is  love  ;  the  true 
mother,  who  is  proud  of  her  children,  has  a 
right  to  be  so. 

When  the  old  knight  went  out  to  defend 
the   weak  and  the   helpless,  and   to  shield 


YOUE  SALVATION  25 

womanhood  then  in  slavery,  to  protect  the 
orphan  and  the  poor ;  and  when  he,  within 
the  Lists,  took  his  single  spear,  and  overthrew 
the  enemy  ;  he,  himself,  rode  around,  after  he 
had  gained  the  victory,  and  held  high  his 
broken  spear.  And  they  honoured  him  for 
being  proud  of  a  great  and  noble  deed. 

So  the  warrior,  when  he  fights  for  his 
country  and  secures  for  it  liberty  and  honour, 
while  he  himself,  in  his  modesty,  may  refuse 
to  speak  of  it,  yet  he  is  proud  of  having  done 
his  duty  well.  What  man  who  has  lost  his 
leg  or  his  arm  in  defense  of  his  country,  is  not 
proud  of  it  ? 

I  remember  going  over  the  battle-field  of 
Gettysburg  with  some  of  the  soldiers  who 
had  been  in  the  fight.  They  showed  me  the 
places  where  the  different  regiments  had 
stood,  where  the  dead  had  been  taken  up, 
and  who  had  fallen  there  ;  and  as  they  showed 
me  the  stone  wall,  the  old  quarry,  the  wheat 
field,  and  peach  orchard  through  which  the 
charge  was  made,  and  thence  up  to  Round 
Top,  and  over  other  portions  of  the  ground, 
the  faces  of  those  men  glowed,  and  they 
entered  into  it  with  all  zest  as  though  it  were 
the  story  of  but  yesterday.  They  had  a  right 
to  be  proud,  and  no  man  would  take  away 
that  right  from  them. 


26    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

So  with  the  Christian.  The  Christian  who 
has  done  good  deeds  has  a  right  to  be  glad 
of  it.  The  man  who  has  never  told  a  lie  ;  the 
man  who  has  never  wronged  any  one  ;  the 
man  who,  like  Paul,  can  say,  "  I  have  never 
defrauded  any  man,"  has  a  right  to  be  self- 
satisfied.  Still  more  right  has  he  who  can 
say,  **I  have  helped  many."  Paul,  as  he 
looked  back  on  his  past  life,  tells  God,  "  I  have 
fought  a  good  fight ;  I  have  kept  the  faith." 
He  had  a  right  to  tell  God  so,  for  he  had 
lived  such  a  life,  and  it  was  the  truth,  and 
God  expected  him  to  tell  the  truth.  A 
Christian,  who  has  wronged  no  man  or 
woman,  and  who  has  really  made  men  better 
and  nobler,  has  a  right  to  say  so  while  he 
lives,  and  to  have  a  monument  when  he  dies, 
as  much  as  any  other  great  conqueror.  And 
if  he  does  not  get  a  monument  in  this  life,  he 
will  get  one  in  the  life  to  come,  for  God  says, 
**  Ye  shall  be  rewarded  according  to  the  deeds 
done  in  the  body."  But  you  cannot  do  good 
deeds  without  faith.  You  need  to  be  in- 
spired by  a  spirit  of  love  for  goodness,  and 
truth,  and  holiness,  in  order  to  do  good  deeds. 
But  he  who  has  done  them,  God  will  reward. 
A  man  who  can  look  up  to  God,  and  into  his 
fellow  beings'  lives,  and  truthfully  say,  "I 
have  Jived  in  all  good  works  to  those  about 


YOUR  SALVATION  27 

me,"  has  something  that  he  himself  can 
enjoy. 

When  the  time  comes  for  him  who  has 
done  good  deeds  to  be  received  into  the  New 
Jerusalem,  do  you  suppose  he  will  go  crawling 
up  the  stairs  ?  Does  the  Bible  tell  us  that 
the  Christian  will  be  received  in  that  way  ? 

As  the  old  Roman  conquerors  came  back 
from  the  East,  and  brought  with  them  the 
trophies  of  their  victories,  and  marched 
through  Rome,  v/ith  their  chariots,  while 
their  countrymen  crowded  the  pavements, 
and  welcomed  them  with  music  on  every  side 
and  every  indication  of  joy,  so  will  the  Chris- 
tian be  welcomed  into  the  New  Jerusalem ; 
God  and  Christ  will  welcome  him,  and  all  the 
people  who  have  gone  before  will  welcome 
him.  Ah !  what  a  triumphal  march  that  will 
be  !  One  comes  out  to  the  front  and  says, 
"  He  is  come.  Why,  I  should  not  have 
been  in  heaven  but  for  him  !  "  and  another 
says,  **  He  is  come  !  The  one  who  divided 
his  portion  with  me  ! "  "  The  one  who 
established  the  school  where  I  was  educated  I " 
"  The  one  who  helped  the  nation  into  liberty, 
and  made  it  possible  for  me  to  worship  God ! " 
"  He  is  come  !  "  *'  He  is  come  !  "  All 
through  that  magnificent  city  it  will  resound, 
— to  the  throne  of  God  Himself.     And  he 


28    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

who  has  done  his  duty,  and  has  done  good 
deeds,  and  has  worked  faithfully,  because  of 
his  love  for  Christ  and  God,  will  be  received 
with  all  the  triumph  of  heaven,  and  all  the 
anthems  of  its  beautiful  music  will  be  sound- 
ing his  praise,  and  he  will  be  known  to  all 
the  city  as  one  who  has  done  something  good, 
for  the  sake  of,  and  in  the  name  of,  and  for 
the  cause  of,  Jesus  Christ. 


II 


HOW  TO  PRAY 

**  And  Elijah  said  to  his  servant,  *  Go  up  now  and  look 
towards  the  sea.'  And  he  went  up  and  looked,  and  said  : 
*  There  is  nothing.'  "     (z  Kings  xviii.  ^j.) 

HOW  to  pray !  This  subject  must  be 
in  the  inner  chambers  of  every 
Christian's  heart.  If  a  man  has  power 
with  God  he  desires  to  use  it  so  as  to  accom- 
plish great  results.     How  to  pray  ! 

In  Richmond,  Virginia,  a  father  with  an 
only  daughter  brought  her  up  in  such  luxury 
that  every  want  was  anticipated.  She  had 
carriages,  she  had  beautiful  works  of  art  in 
her  rooms,  she  had  the  finest  clothing,  the 
most  costly  gems,  and  lived  in  a  mansion. 
She  went  to  the  American  seashore  in  the 
summer  and  to  the  Mediterranean  in  the 
winter.  But  she  married  away  from  home, 
neglected  her  father,  and  had  but  little  com- 
munication with  him.  She  went  away  to 
England  and  Russia.  Then  her  husband,  who 
was  engaged  in  extensive  stock  speculations 
in  Paris,  lost  all  that  he  had  and  committed 
suicide.     The  daughter  was  left  with  nothing. 

Her  father,  very  wealthy,  was  still  in  Rich- 
29 


30    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

mond.  She  wrote  to  him,  saying  that  she  had 
nothing  for  herself  and  her  Uttle  boy,  and  asked 
if  he  was  willing  to  help  her.  The  somewhat 
eccentric  father,  who  was,  after  all,  very  wise, 
replied  that  he  would  be  glad  to  help  her, 
but  that  he  would  keep  an  account  of  all  that 
he  gave  her,  and  that  she  must  send  to  him 
a  requisition  for  everything  she  wanted,  which 
he  would  be  glad  to  fill.  After  he  had 
brought  up  one  daughter  and  had  failed  the 
old  man  had  learned  something,  and  he  made 
up  his  mind  to  begin  anew.  So,  to  the  sur- 
prise of  his  daughter  and  to  the  surprise  of 
her  friends,  who  blamed  him  somewhat  at 
first,  he  required  his  daughter  to  set  down  on 
paper,  in  the  form  of  that  requisition,  every 
single  article  of  clothing,  or  food,  everything 
that  was  needed  in  the  housekeeping,  and 
everything  in  the  shape  of  the  necessities  of 
life,  that  were  required  for  her  and  for  her 
little  child.  She  would  carefully  prepare  this 
long  list,  which  sometimes  would  take  many 
hours  to  make  out,  and  her  father  would 
send  her  the  very  articles  that  she  sent  for 
and  nothing  over. 

She  returned  to  his  home  in  Richmond, 
and  there,  after  her  mother's  death,  became 
his  housekeeper,  and  continued  in  that  posi- 
tion until  the  old  man's  death,  some  twenty 


HOW  TO  PEAY  31 

years  later,  and  all  the  while  she  was  held  to 
a  strict  account  for  everything.  She  learned 
to  love  her  father  exceedingly.  She  began 
to  appreciate  what  he  had  done  for  her. 
Because  everything  given  her  was  put  down 
in  writing  for  the  scrutiny  of  her  careful 
father,  she  was  grateful  for  the  least  thing, 
even  for  a  paper  of  pins. 

Can  you  not  see,  in  the  behaviour  of  that 
wise  parent,  something  of  the  differences  that 
exist  between  the  children  who  are  ungrate- 
ful and  the  children  who  are  grateful,  whether 
they  be  children  of  men  or  children  of  God  ? 
If  we  could  sit  down  and  make  a  list,  before 
God,  of  the  things  we  want  and  were  obhged 
to  sit  down  and  say,  "  Lord,  give  us  this,  or 
that,  or  the  other,"  we  would  understand  the 
value  of  our  gifts,  and  would  appreciate  the 
kindness  of  the  parent  who  gave  them.  How 
much  more  we  would  love  him  and  praise 
him  than  we  do  now  I 

But  **  how  to  pray  "  involves  some  ques- 
tions so  deep  that  I  cannot  enter  upon  their 
discussion  here.  Yet  there  is  one  thought  in 
connection  with  the  best  way  to  pray  which 
I  think  I  should  advance.  Of  late  there  has 
been  found  a  growing  heresy  in  the  church, 
which  states  that  there  are  no  such  things  as 
miracles.     Men  cannot  believe  that  the  Lord 


32    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

would  change  His  mind,  and  so  they  say  it  is 
useless  to  pray.  Whether  the  Lord  changes 
His  mind  or  not  is  a  question  far  beyond  our 
finite  reasoning.  We  cannot  understand  the 
mind  of  God,  and  he  is  a  very  venturesome 
egotist  who  assumes  to  judge  what  God 
thinks  and  what  He  does  not.  We  see  some 
things  in  nature  which  God  does,  and  which 
seem  to  indicate  a  change  of  mind  or  a  change 
of  purpose.  We  believe  in  an  unchangeable 
God ;  yet  when  you  take  a  seed  that  is  grown  to 
perfection,  with  the  evident  design  that  it  shall 
grow  into  a  tree,  and  when  we  find  that  in  the 
providence  of  God  it  decays  or  fails  to  germi- 
nate, we  see  a  plan  that  has  failed,  or,  looking 
at  the  question  superficially,  we  see  a  change 
of  mind  in  the  providence  of  God.  The  merely 
scientific  mind  must  accept  that  evidence. 

A  child  is  born  into  the  earth,  and  in  two 
or  three  days  it  dies  and  its  body  is  laid  back 
in  the  dust.  That  body  was  formed  for  liv- 
ing, that  brain  for  thinking,  those  hands  for 
working,  those  feet  for  walking,  that  heart 
for  pumping.  Those  are  the  apparent  plans 
of  God  with  regard  to  that  child,  and  it  must 
appear  to  any  truly  scientific  mind  that  God 
changes  His  mind,  or  changes  His  provi- 
dence, when  that  child  dies ;  the  plan  for 
which  it  seems  to  have  been  born  fails. 


HOW  TO  PRAY  33 

The  great  lakes  of  the  North  ran  for  ages 
over  Niagara  only  and  mingled  with  the  At- 
lantic Ocean  by  passing  through  the  St. 
Lawrence.  But  man  comes  in  and  changes 
the  plans  of  God,  digs  the  great  Chicago 
canal,  reverses  the  flow  of  the  Chicago  River, 
and  now  water  that  otherwise  would  pass 
through  the  St.  Lawrence  turns  to  the  Missis- 
sippi River  and  finds  its  way  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  Has  God  changed  His  mind? 
Whether  He  has  changed  or  has  turned  His 
attention  to  further  designs  is  not  of  vital 
importance  to  discuss,  but  that  the  seeming 
designs  of  God  are  often  defeated  is  evident 
to  any  purely  scientific  mind. 

We  find  that  God  ha's  given  to  man  a  free 
will ;  within  a  limited  range,  it  is  true,  but 
within  that  range  man  is  allowed  to  inter- 
fere with  the  evident  purposes  of  God.  God 
has  His  designs,  as  the  Scriptures  and  nature 
plainly  show.  Man  has  the  power  to  destroy 
life  or  to  change  the  nature  of  life  by  inter- 
breeding, and  by  various  forms  of  cultivation 
he  can  change  the  very  nature  of  the  vege- 
tation of  the  earth,  God's  designs  being  sub- 
ject to  the  power  of  man.  It  is  God's  will 
that  we  should  come  unto  Him,  and  that 
none  should  perish  ;  it  is  His  purpose  that 
man  should  live  a  holy  and  a  righteous  life. 


34    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

But  man,  in  the  exercise  of  his  free  will,  in- 
terferes with  those  plans.  God  designs  that 
man  shall  be  pure  and  good ;  but  man  comes 
in  with  his  temptations,  his  deceit  and  his 
fraud  and  seemingly  overcomes  or  defeats 
the  very  purpose  of  God. 

We  believe  that  it  is  God's  purpose  that  the 
Gospel  should  be  preached,  and  yet  man  defeats 
and  defeats,  postpones  and  postpones  the  time 
when  the  world  shall  hear  the  Gospel  of  God. 

But  if  God  does  not  change  His  mind — 
and  I  do  not  think  that  He  does — then  we 
may  account  for  this  philosophically  upon 
another  line.  Does  God  foresee  that  man 
will  interfere?  Ah,  there  the  teacher  who 
says  that  God  does  not  hear  the  prayers  of 
man,  and  does  not  change  His  mind,  is  alto- 
gether at  fault  as  a  scientific  man.  For  the 
God  who  made  the  seed  may  have  designed 
it  to  die,  and  no  change  of  mind  or  of  pur- 
pose has  taken  place,  for  God  may  have  fore- 
seen that  certain  events  would  come  to  pass, 
and  His  designs  are  carried  out  by  its  use  in 
another  direction.  God  may  know  in  ad- 
vance what  the  influence  of  man  will  be  on 
His  plans,  and  He  makes  His  plans  accord- 
ingly, without  consulting  us  in  the  matter. 

However,  if  we  go  to  the  Scriptures,  which 
as  Christians  we  must,  we  find  that  God  does 


HOW  TO  PEAY  35 

answer  prayer,  that  He  answers  prayer  di- 
rectly, that  His  providence  changes  in  order 
to  adjust  itself  to  the  conditions  created  by 
the  prayers  of  His  Christian  children.  We 
are  told  to  be  instant  in  prayer,  to  pray  with- 
out ceasing,  to  pray  unto  God  our  Father 
which  is  in  heaven,  who  seeth  in  secret  and 
who  shall  reward  us  openly.  There  are  one 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  different  com- 
mandments to  pray. 

But  if  we  would  learn  the  power  or  the  best 
way  to  pray  we  need  to  begin  with  nothing. 
I  think  only  the  poor  can  understand  how  to 
pray.  In  the  instance  that  I  mentioned  at 
the  opening  of  this  thought,  that  daughter 
knew  how  to  pray  to  her  father  after  she  had 
learned  to  appreciate  his  itemized  goodness. 
A  rich  man  can  scarcely  know  how  to  pray, 
and  that  may  be  the  reason  why  it  is  so  diffi- 
cult for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven ;  it  is  because  he  does  not  know 
what  he  should  be  thankful  for.  It  is  the 
poor  man  who  is  in  the  best  position  to  un- 
derstand the  blessings  of  God.  Let  a  man 
live  from  mouth  to  mouth,  not  knowing  from 
where  his  next  meal  is  coming,  he  is  so  de- 
pendent upon  God's  providence  that  he  can 
appreciate  His  goodness  in  detail.  He  only 
can  so  arrange  his  prayer  as  to  test  God. 


36    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

A  man  living  in  luxury  can  hardly  know 
the  power  of  prayer.  He  cannot  believe  God 
would  change  His  mind.  But  the  poor  man, 
like  George  Miiller,  of  England,  who  lived 
through  years  of  great  Christian  work,  sim- 
ply from  hour  to  hour,  can  understand  the 
power  of  prayer.  When  he  needed  a  thing 
he  asked  for  it.  He  studied  closely  the  an- 
swers to  his  prayers,  and  on  a  question  of 
that  kind  a  man  like  George  Miiller  is  a  safer 
scientific  authority  than  mere  college  profess- 
ors. If  those  scientific  men  have  been  them- 
selves in  a  position  where  it  was  either  death, 
or  an  answer,  and  if  then  they  prayed,  they 
may  be  considered  to  be  authorities  on  the 
subject.  But  school  science  in  itself  is  of  no 
authority  on  the  practical  question  of  prayer. 
It  is  something  which  can  only  be  tested  by 
experience.  If  a  daughter  makes  out  a  list 
of  what  she  wants  and  sends  it  to  her  father 
and  her  father  sends  back  precisely  what  she 
asked  for,  then  that  daughter  knows  that  her 
father  has  answered  her  ;  some  scientific  man 
may  come  along  and  say  that  he  does  not  be- 
lieve that  her  father  **  would  change  his 
mind,"  yet  the  practical  truth  of  the  answer 
is  demonstrated.  We  know  that  God  answers 
prayer  by  the  fact  that  we  ask  for  what  we 
want  and  we  get  what  we  have  asked  for. 


HOW  TO  PEAY  37 

While  prayer  is  often  answered  indirectly,  or 
in  some  unexpected  way,  yet  the  frequency 
with  which  we  do  get  what  we  ask  for  will  as- 
sure the  humble  Christian  in  his  poverty  that 
prayer,  if  it  does  not  change  the  mind  of  God, 
is  at  least  heard  by  the  Almighty  ruler  of  the 
world  ;  and  those  who  live  from  hand  to 
mouth,  not  because  of  their  laziness,  but  be- 
cause of  misfortune,  they  are  the  people  who 
are  in  the  position  to  test  the  value  of  prayer. 
If  God  does  not  change  His  plans  or  His  de- 
signs, He  does  work  out  an  answer  to  prayer 
in  one  direction  or  another. 

Dr.  George  M.  Baker  told  once  about  a 
prayer  which  he  made  when  he  was  a  boy, 
asking  God  that  he  might  go  to  a  baseball 
game.  His  mother  did  not  wish  him  to  go 
in  consequence  of  the  character  of  the  crowd 
that  would  be  there.  But  he  prayed  three 
times  that  his  mother  might  change  her 
mind.  He  could  not  understand  why  she 
still  stood  to  her  original  position.  He  went 
back  to  his  work  and  began  to  think.  He 
thought  of  how  his  mother  loved  him  much 
more  than  any  of  the  boys  loved  him,  and 
how  he  loved  her  more  than  he  loved  them. 
So  at  last  he  began  to  feel  that  he  did  not 
care  to  go  to  the  game ;  and  he  went  and 
told  his  mother  so,  and  told  her  that  he  had 


38    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

given  up  the  idea.  He  would  not  go  if  she 
gave  him  permission,  for  he  would  prefer  to 
stay  at  home  and  help  her.  His  prayer  was 
answered,  although  not  in  the  way  he  ex- 
pected— not  by  permitting  him  to  go  to  the 
ball  game,  but  by  reconciling  him  to  stay  at 
home.  Dr.  Baker's  lovely  and  potent  life 
was  largely  shaped  by  that  prayer. 

General  Gordon,  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  told  me 
of  how  the  Confederate  troops  prayed  for 
victory  before  the  battle  of  Sharpsburg.  The 
day  before  the  battle  they  prayed  earnestly 
that  they  might  be  victorious,  so  earnestly 
that  both  officers  and  men  felt  that  their 
prayers  would  be  answered.  General  Gor- 
don said  that  many  felt  satisfied  that  the 
Confederate  forces  would  sweep  the  Union 
lines,  and  would  be  on  their  way  to  Wash- 
ington within  a  week.  But  the  next  day  the 
battle  came  ofT,  and  in  results  it  was  one  of  the 
most  crushing  blows  that  the  Confederates 
received  during  the  war.  General  Gordon, 
who  was  shot  five  times,  said  that  after  the 
battle  the  men  were  discouraged.  They  felt 
that  God  was  on  the  side  of  the  largest  legions. 
Some  of  the  officers  suggested  that  it  would 
be  better  to  spend  less  time  in  praying  and 
more  time  in  manufacturing  powder  and  bul- 
lets.    The  suggestion  seemed  to  be  a  good 


HOW  TO  PEAT  39 

one  even  to  the  general.  But  he  told  me 
years  after  that  the  prayers  of  the  Confeder- 
ates on  the  day  before  that  battle  were  best 
answered  by  defeat ;  that  if  the  Confederates 
had  captured  Washington  and  defeated  the 
Union  our  nation  would  now  be  far  down  the 
scale  among  the  weaker  nations  of  the  earth. 
So  God  answers  prayer  in  His  own  way. 

The  text  chosen  for  this  address  relates  to 
the  prayer  of  Elijah.  You  will  remember 
that  he  had  prayed  that  there  might  be  no 
rain  for  three  years,  and  his  prayer  had  been 
answered.  What  had  been  the  result  ?  For 
years  there  had  been  no  rain,  and  what  scenes 
do  his  eyes  rest  upon  ?  He  sees  the  funeral 
processions  on  every  hand ;  the  little  ones 
are  dead  and  the  older  ones  are  dying ;  the 
fields  are  white  with  ashes,  and  a  pestilence 
is  on  the  land.  To  punish  Jezebel  and  Ahab 
he  had  prayed  that  there  might  be  no  rain. 
But  Ahab  and  Jezebel  do  not  suffer.  Their 
great  wealth  enables  them  to  find  pasture  for 
their  flocks,  and  the  suffering  is  felt  by  the 
poorer  people,  and  they  consistently  blame 
Elijah  for  their  afflictions.  The  lesson  that 
he  desired  to  teach  Jezebel  was  not  being 
taught  except  to  the  poor,  whom  he  did  not 
desire  to  punish.  He  considered  it  his  duty 
so  to  pray.     But  he  seems  now  to  feel  that 


40    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

he  may  have  made  a  mistake  in  his  desire  to 
teach  the  lessons  of  God.  He  feels  respon- 
sible for  the  suffering  that  has  followed  as  a 
result  of  his  prayers.  When  a  man  prays  to 
God,  if  his  prayer  is  answered,  the  man  who 
prays  is  responsible  for  the  results  that  follow. 
But  now  Elijah  is  filled  with  remorse.  How 
I  wish  I  could  present  to  you  this  morning 
the  picture  of  Elijah  up  on  Mount  Carmel 
praying,  with  his  head  bowed  before  God, 
praying  for  rain  !  Oh,  for  rain  to  make  the 
fields  fertile;  oh,  that  these  funeral  processions 
might  cease ;  oh,  to  hear  no  more  of  these 
cries  and  groanings ;  oh,  to  hear  no  more 
the  curses  of  the  people  I  "  It  is  thou  who 
troubleth  Israel."  Oh,  that  these  multiply- 
ing graves  may  no  longer  fill  the  land  with 
woe  !  Elijah  feels  his  responsibility,  and  with 
his  whole  heart  he  now  prays  to  God  for 
rain.  Hear  the  poor  man  praying  for  rain  : 
**  O  God,  help  me  out  of  this  awful  dilemma ! 
O  God,  Thou  didst  answer  my  prayer  that  it 
might  not  rain,  but  now,  O  Lord,  send  rain." 
But  no  rain  comes  and  he  sends  his  servant 
to  look  out  to  sea.  He  was  in  haste  to  know 
if  there  was  an  answer  coming  to  his  prayer. 
A  man  may  say  that  he  does  not  believe  in 
prayer.  But  if  that  is  the  case  his  first  prayer 
should  be  for  faith  in  prayer ;  his  first  duty  is 


HOW  TO  PEAY  41 

to  get  himself  in  a  position  or  in  a  condition 
where  he  will  have  sufficient  faith  to  pray- 
in  the  proper  spirit.  Elijah,  while  he  prays, 
seems  doubtful  about  the  result,  and  he  sends 
his  servant  up  the  mountain  to  look  around. 
Elijah  feels  that  God  must  answer  his  prayer. 
Hence  he  sends  his  servant  up  higher  that  he 
may  get  a  wider  view. 

Now  there  are  two  ways  in  which  to  learn 
how  to  pray :  one  is  to  go  down  to  the  poor 
who  depend  upon  God  from  hour  to  hour, 
and  make  that  the  test  of  its  effectiveness ; 
and  the  other  way  is  to  do  as  Elijah  did, 
either  send  your  servant  or  yourself,  go  up 
higher  and  take  a  wider  view.  Go  up  where 
you  can  see  something  of  the  providence  and 
the  plan  of  God.  The  servant  of  Elijah  knew 
not  from  which  direction  the  rain  would 
come.  He  may  have  been  looking  over 
the  land ;  he  may  have  been  looking  over 
the  Mediterranean  ;  he  may  have  been  look- 
ing towards  Jerusalem,  or  he  may  have  been 
looking  to  the  north  towards  Hermon,  or 
down  towards  the  valley  too  close  by,  or 
more  likely  he  had  been  looking  at  the 
ground  where  Elijah  was,  with  the  hope  that 
a  fountain  might  spring  up  at  his  feet.  But 
Elijah  tells  him  to  go  up  higher,  where  he 
can  get  a  wider  view. 


Ill 

FOOD  FOR  THE  POOR 

"  But  whoso  hath  this  world's  good,  and  seeth  his 
brother  have  need,  and  shutteth  up  his  heart  of  compas- 
sion from  him,  how  dwelleth  the  love  of  God  in  him  ? " 
(z  Joh7i  in.  ly.) 

IT  is  evident  to  every  student  of  the  prog- 
ress of  the  human  race,  as  well  as  to 
every  student  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
that  the  providences  of  God  are  building  up 
a  great  final  brotherhood  of  all  mankind. 
That  the  day  is  approaching  very  rapidly,  is 
the  belief  of  many  of  us,  when  all  men  shall 
have  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  shall  believe  in  the 
principles  taught  in  His  word,  and  when  they 
shall  all  be  at  peace ;  and  when  there  shall 
be  only  one  nation  over  the  entire  world,  and 
that  nation  one  great,  loving  family,  or 
brotherhood.  We  are  progressing  towards 
it  by  almost  every  day's  history.  The 
changes  that  are  going  on  in  these  later 
years  are  so  rapid  as  to  bewilder  a  man. 
Growing  nearer  together  by  every  mechan- 
ical device,  by  all  the  avenues  of  commerce, 
and  by  all  the  inventions  of  genius,  we  must 
42 


FOOD  FOE  THE  POOR  43 

be  one  family ;  that  is  the  ultimate  logical 
result  of  the  progress  of  the  years. 

In  the  accomplishment  of  this  great  pur- 
pose, God  is  disciplining  us  by  contests  of  all 
kinds.  He  is  compelling  us  to  go  through 
very  sharp  battles  in  order  that  in  the  victory 
we  may  be  strong.  He  gives  mental  disci- 
pline, soul  and  moral  teachings  that  will  tend 
in  every  case  to  fit  us  better  for  the  great 
brotherhood  into  which  we  or  our  following 
generations  are  going.  Competition,  battle, 
warfare  attract  the  attention  of  the  human 
mind  first  of  all  things.  Yet  mankind  be- 
lieves in  fair  contests.  We  speak  of  the 
Englishman  who  believes  in  fair  play,  but  he 
doesn't  believe  in  it  more  than  other  nations 
do.  It  is  a  common  trait  of  humanity  every- 
where. We  believe  in  the  fight,  in  the  con- 
test, but  we  also  believe  in  fair  play. 

Men  gather  by  the  tens  of  thousands  to 
see  a  baseball  game,  and  they  insist  that  it 
shall  be  played  fairly.  An  unfair  game  dis- 
gusts the  entire  audience,  and  an  unfair  de- 
cision brings  very  unpleasant  feeling.  The 
constitution  of  human  nature  requires  that 
the  game  shall  be  very  close,  and  the  closer 
the  contest,  the  more  doubt  as  to  which 
shall  win,  the  greater  the  pleasure  of  the 
people  who  attend.     They  do  not  gather  for 


44    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

the  ball  game  itself,  because  if  one  could 
play  alone  there  would  be  no  audience  there 
at  all.  When  a  team  goes  out  to  practice, 
to  play  by  themselves,  few  people  attend. 
It  is  only  when  the  human  mind  is  centred 
on  a  peculiarly  narrow  contest  that  there 
comes  excitement  and  great  attraction. 
When  ball  games  are  played  in  every  state 
in  the  United  States,  and  one  club  after  an- 
other is  eliminated  until  at  last  it  comes  down 
to  two  teams  which  represent  the  whole  land, 
and  those  two  can  play  with  such  accuracy, 
skill  and  equal  strength  that  no  person  can 
tell  which  shall  win,  and  when  it  may  be  that 
the  mere  turning  of  a  ball,  a  mere  single  bat 
will  decide  the  result,  then  thousands  go, 
and  the  gate  money  amounts  to  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars.  It  is  because  the  con- 
test is  fair  and  close. 

People  do  not  go  to  see  an  automobile  run 
alone  ;  but  if  there  are  two,  rated  just  alike, 
built  by  two  competing  firms,  having  the 
same  power,  with  drivers  of  the  same  skill, 
and  they  run  head  to  head,  it  is  an  exciting 
thing.  It  is  in  the  nature  of  us  all  to  enjoy 
a  contest  of  that  character.  A  horse-race, 
where  nose  to  nose  they  go  by  the  grand 
stand,  excites  the  people  and  brings  about 
great  applause.     When  they  build  yachts  in 


FOOD  FOE  THE  POOE  45 

England  to  compete  with  ours,  they  must  be 
so  rated  and  so  constructed  as  to  make  it 
very  doubtful  which  shall  win.  From  such 
contests  comes  the  greatest  skill,  the  greatest 
development  of  a  noble  character. 

The  aviator  who  first  went  across  the  con- 
tinent performed  one  of  the  greatest  miracles 
of  the  ages.  If  Christ  had  done  that  they 
would  have  thought  it  was  a  miracle  then, 
equal  perhaps  to  many  of  the  minor  miracles 
which  He  performed.  But,  if  one  man  goes 
over  alone  there  is  very  little  said  about  it. 
I  have  seen  a  notice  of  the  feat  in  papers  and 
magazines,  but  it  is  a  perfect  wonder  that 
such  a  thing  could  be  done  and  the  people 
say  so  little  about  it.  But  if  you  had  started 
two  aviators,  with  the  same  experience,  in 
flying  machines  of  the  same  size,  at  the  same 
moment,  from  New  York,  and  they  had  kept 
within  a  few  minutes  of  each  other  crossing 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  there  would  have  been 
tremendous  excitement  over  the  entire  nation 
and  world  as  they  went ;  and  if  they  had 
landed  within  one  second  of  each  other  the 
world  would  never  have  forgotten  the  won- 
derful achievement.  It  is  a  singular  thing 
in  human  nature,  but  there  it  is.  God  seems 
to  have  put  it  there,  anyhow  He  is  dealing 
with  it  every  day  of  our  lives.     A  man  may 


46    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

climb  a  mountain,  and  it  is  a  wonderful 
achievement,  but  it  is  only  when  several 
undertake  it  and  their  time  of  reaching  the 
mountain  peak  is  within  a  few  minutes  of 
each  other,  that  people  remember  the  con- 
test. But  human  nature  requires  that  it  shall 
be  an  honourable  battle.  They  require  that 
it  shall  be  a  swimming  match,  and  not  the 
drowning  of  a  man.  No  one  wants  to  see 
a  man  drown,  or  see  him  battling  uselessly 
with  the  waves.  There  must  be  a  contest,  a 
battle.     It  must  be  a  war,  not  a  massacre. 

I  say,  then,  in  order  to  become  brothers  in 
this  world,  we  require  development  along 
the  line  of  fairness  of  character.  A  sailor 
would  not  sail  the  sea  if  there  were  no  storms 
or  high  waves,  or  if  he  did  he  would  become 
effeminate.  Pioneers  going  into  the  forest 
and  levelling  trees  are  strong  men  physically 
and  mentally,  and  make  their  marks  upon  the 
ages  as  did  Washington.  They  have  their 
batdes  to  fight,  but  battles  bring  victories, 
victories  bring  strength,  and  strength  brings 
the  esteem  and  honour  of  mankind,  and 
seemingly  the  favour  of  God. 

We  read  a  curious  thing  in  the  Bible  that 
there  was  war  in  heaven.  What  a  battle 
that  must  have  been  !  What  a  sight  to  look 
upon  a  battle  of  the  angels !    We  do  not 


FOOD  FOE  THE  POOB  47 

know  enough  about  it  to  let  our  imagination 
fly  ;  but  this  we  do  know,  that  we  are  on  the 
earth,  where  there  is  a  continual  battle  going 
on  between  righteousness  and  unrighteous- 
ness, between  goodness  and  wickedness,  and 
all  for  a  purpose.  The  battle  is  ever  present. 
Evil  and  goodness  are  always  facing  each 
other,  there  is  never  a  time  when  one  can 
lower  flag  or  sword.  The  battle  is  always 
on ;  and  it  is  God's  intention  that  it  should 
be  on  for  the  discipline  of  mankind.  We 
are  called  upon  to  come  to  the  help  of  the 
Lord  and  fight  with  Him  the  batdes  for  His 
cause, — yet  not  so  much  for  Him  as  for  our- 
selves. Our  battles  as  a  church,  as  Christian 
believers,  are  on.  We  do  not  know  why  the 
Lord  did  not  fight  them  all  out  for  us,  or 
why,  with  His  supreme  power,  He  did  not 
do  away  with  evil  and  exterminate  the  bad. 
We  know  they  are  here.  We  meet  them  all 
the  time.  Some  persons  may  try  to  believe 
that  everything  is  good,  but  you  will  soon 
find  out,  by  the  use  of  ordinary  common 
sense  for  a  single  five  minutes,  that  evil  is 
everywhere  present  all  the  time.  The  con- 
test is  ever  on,  just  as  it  is  in  the  bodies  of 
men.  There  are  white  corpuscles  that  are 
the  great  valiant  soldiers  of  health,  circulat- 
ing   through   the   body   and   fighting   your 


48    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

battles.  The  more  you  have  of  such  scaven- 
gers the  healthier  your  system  will  be.  But 
it  is  a  battle  never  ceasing.  Every  breath 
you  take,  every  mouthful  of  food  you  receive, 
every  time  you  go  to  sleep,  and  every  muscle 
you  exercise,  the  nerve  that  you  put  in  force 
is  only  acting  upon  them ;  and  the  great 
battle  in  your  body  is  always  on  between  the 
germs  of  disease  and  the  microbes  of  health. 
So  everywhere  the  battle  is  hot  against  evil. 
We  do  not  know  why  it  is  so,  but  nevertheless 
our  common  sense,  as  well  as  our  conscience, 
teaches  that  it  is  a  fact. 

The  battle  of  the  Church  for  the  salvation 
of  the  souls  of  men  is  always  in  array.  Men 
are  as  prone  to  do  evil  as  sparks  are  to  fly 
upward,  and  they  are  ever  in  the  presence  of 
temptation  and  sin  ;  and  God  has  set  us  in 
the  earth  to  fight  this  continual  battle,  to  de- 
fend those  weaker  than  we,  and  to  strengthen 
us  that  we  may  battle  for  ourselves  and  those 
we  love.  The  great  batde  of  the  Church  is, 
of  course,  the  battle  for  the  conversion  of 
mankind  to  Jesus  Christ.  That  is  the  great, 
chief,  moral  purpose  of  our  living.  Satan  is 
ever  trying  to  tempt  the  soul  away  from  the 
Church,  away  from  Christ  and  goodness, 
away  from  purity  and  holiness  ;  and  we  are 
ever  striving,  if  we  are  doing  our  duty,  to 


FOOD  FOR  THE  POOR  49 

keep  him  from  making  it  a  prisoner.  We 
have  the  world  in  charge,  and  are  formed 
into  a  phalanx  of  God  for  the  fighting  of  His 
battles,  and  all  heaven  is  interested  in  this 
great  and  nearly  equal  struggle.  If  it  were 
not  nearly  equal  it  would  be  no  battle,  or, 
at  least,  a  dishonourable  one.  Right  and 
wrong  are  so  near  alike,  Satan  and  Christ 
seem  to  be  so  equal  in  this  earth  of  ours, 
that  we  cannot  tell  from  day  to  day  which 
way  the  battle  will  swerve,  or  which  way 
victory  seems  to  go.  We  believe  that  in  the 
end  Christ  and  God  will  be  victorious,  but 
to-day  it  is  a  battle  that  is  ever  present  and 
undecided,  and  the  world  ought  to  take  as 
great  an  interest  in  this  moral  and  religious 
battle  as  it  does  in  the  physical  battles  of  the 
world. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  Church  to  convert  the 
rich,  because  now  the  rich  are  getting  more 
and  more  of  wealth  than  their  share,  and  the 
weath  is  being  taken  away  from  the  good  of 
humanity ;  so  the  Church,  in  order  to  fight 
the  battles  for  God,  must  strive  by  every 
possible  means  to  convert  the  rich  to  Jesus 
Christ,  to  secure  a  change  of  their  hearts  that 
they  may  love  tc  do  good  with  their  money, 
that  they  may  use  the  power  they  have  to 
bless  humanity.    The  Church  needs  to  use  its 


50    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  OHEIST  LIFE 

power  to  convert  the  poor,  in  order  that  the 
poor  may  not  be  discouraged  with  their  con- 
dition, in  order  that  the  poor  may  be  more  in- 
dustrious and  more  economical,  and  in  order 
that  the  poor  may  receive  their  equal  share. 
The  time  is  coming  when  there  will  be  a  uni- 
versal brotherhood  ;  and  when  that  time  does 
come  there  will  be  no  man  richer  than  an- 
other. Men  will  all  be  alike  around  this 
ideal  world.  Now  we  are  not  socialistic,  as 
some  people  interpret  socialism  ;  we  are  not 
anarchists ;  we  do  not  believe  in  the  de- 
struction of  property,  or  of  nations,  if  that 
may  be  ;  but  we  believe  in  the  equalizing  of 
the  possessions  of  the  rich  and  the  poor ;  and 
we  believe  in  bringing  it  about  in  Christ's 
own  way,  and  that  way  is  an  honourable  way. 
Let  us  fight  the  battles  with  the  rich  honour- 
ably, though  they  may  seem  tyrannous  and 
oppressive,  for  the  heart  revolts  against  any- 
thing like  a  victory  with  unfair  methods,  and 
Christianity  rejects  it.  Hence  to-day,  as  a 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  we  are  brought  face 
to  face  around  this  wide  world,  with  great 
problems  to  solve,  or  great  battles  to  fight  in 
favour  of  the  poor. 

Why  should  there  be  poor,  who  are  so 
hungry  that  they  eat  the  refuse  out  of  gar- 
bage barrels  ?     Why  is  it  that  there  should 


FOOD  FOE  THE  POOR  51 

be  any  person  begging  his  way  in  this  great 
city  when  there  are  miUions  and  miUions  of 
gold  in  the  banks,  and  when  there  are  thou- 
sands of  persons  unoccupied  who  would  de- 
light to  minister  to  the  poor?  Why  are 
these  things  as  they  are  ?  Why  are  the 
millions  in  the  hands  of  the  few,  and  poverty 
in  the  homes  of  the  many  ?  The  fact  that  it 
is  so  I  have  not  time  to  discuss.  I  have  come 
to  make  a  very  practical  proposition,  and 
say  that  it  is  time  for  the  churches  to  take 
up  the  battle  in  behalf  of  the  poor.  The 
whole  country  is  feeling  that  this  condition 
is  wrong,  and  that  the  great  trusts  which 
have  been  combined  with  such  capital  should 
be  somehow  dealt  with  to  prevent  their  future 
encroachments  upon  the  poor. 

Why  is  it  that  the  poor  man  finds  the  cost 
of  living  continually  rising  while  his  pay  is  so 
slow  in  rising  ?  Why  is  it  that  the  coffers  of 
the  rich  are  being  filled  with  a  continual 
stream  which  they  do  not  earn  ?  If  you  go 
out  on  Broad  Street  you  will  see  automobiles 
by  the  thousands.  They  go  up  and  down  so 
fast  that  life  is  endangered.  Who  builds  the 
automobiles  ?  The  poor  men.  Do  you 
think  the  rich  men  own  those  automobiles  ? 
You  have  not  thought  very  far  if  you  do. 
The  rich  man  wants  an  automobile  to  use  for 


52    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

himself ;  how  is  he  going  to  get  the  money 
to  buy  it  ?  He  owns  property  in  which  poor 
people  dwell,  and  he  raises  the  rent,  and  out 
of  the  added  rent  of  the  poor  man  he  pays 
for  his  automobile.  The  automobiles  begin 
to  run  through  a  town.  The  people  are  all 
poor,  and  the  automobiles  so  use  up  the 
highways  as  almost  to  tax  the  people  out  of 
town  and  nearly  devastate  the  entire  village 
by  the  great  ruin  which  they  do  to  the  streets. 
So  they  put  the  poor  people  to  the  great 
expense  of  building  new  roads  over  which 
automobiles  can  run.  Who  lays  this  pave- 
ment on  Broad  Street  ?  The  poor  people  of 
Philadelphia.  Whose  rents  are  raised  and 
the  price  of  whose  living  is  raised  in  order 
that  the  city  may  spend  its  money  laying 
pavement  for  the  automobiles  to  run  over  ? 

It  is  not  that  I  would  put  back  the  age  and 
say  automobiles  should  not  exist.  I  would 
not  take  away  one  of  them ;  but  I  use  this 
illustration  that  you  may  realize  to-day  that 
the  poor  are  growing  poorer  and  the  rich 
richer.  I  ask  you  what  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  has  to  do  with  the  raising  of  the  cost 
of  living,  and  what  it  should  do  to  prevent  it. 
It  seems  to  me  it  is  time  now  for  something 
practical  to  be  done.  I  know  that  we  are  a 
spiritual   organization.     Christ  was  a  great 


FOOD  FOE  THE  POOR  53 

teacher,  but  He  went  around  doing  good. 
He  went  around  healing  the  sick  ;  and  while 
He  preached  the  Gospel  all  the  time,  He 
enforced  the  Gospel  by  His  wondrous  ex- 
ample. Let  us  try  to  do  the  same  thing. 
Let  us  try  to  teach  the  combinations  of  poor 
men,  as  well  as  the  rich.  Let  us  try  to  en- 
courage every  sort  of  association  that  will 
bring  the  poor  together  in  a  trust ;  for  when 
bad  men  combine  good  men  must  organizeo 
The  time  has  come  when  we  must  meet  these 
trusts  with  trusts,  and  not  only  limit  them  by 
law,  which  must  be  done  with  great  care  that 
we  be  not  unjust  to  any  one,  but  at  the  same 
time  prevent  any  future  encroachment. 

A  short  time  ago  there  came  up  in  Indiana 
a  very  simple  proposition.  It  would  seem 
almost  absurd  when  put  in  connection  with 
the  beauties  and  glories  of  spiritual  teaching, 
and  yet  it  is  something  the  Church  ought  to 
do.  Out  in  Indianapolis  the  mayor  of  the 
town,  Mr.  Shank,  saw  that  the  poor  people 
were  having  their  cost  of  living  raised  all  the 
time.  (The  rich  people  did  not  do  without 
anything;  they  never  do.  If  the  cost  is  a 
little  more  they  buy  it  anyhow.  Whatever 
they  want  they  get.)  He  saw  that  in  his  city 
there  were  thousands  of  poor  people,  and 
while  their  pay  was  advanced  somewhat  over 


54    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

its  previous  amount,  it  was  not  advanced  in 
proportion  to  the  increased  cost  of  living. 
So  he  went  into  the  market  and  asked  the 
price  of  potatoes,  and  they  said,  "  A  dollar 
and  a  half  a  bushel."  It  was  more  than  that 
if  people  bought  them  by  the  peck.  Just 
think  of  the  coal  that  is  sold  in  this  city  to  the 
poor  by  the  basket  and  pound,  at  a  rate 
which  (if  rich  people  paid  the  same)  would 
pay  the  interest  on  all  property  of  the  city 
itself.  Just  one  article,  and  they  pay  so  much 
more  for  a  ton  of  coal  than  rich  people.  The 
rich  can  buy  it  for  three  dollars  and  twenty 
cents  a  ton.  I  know  that  because  I  have 
bought  it  for  institutions.  You  pay  five,  six 
and  seven  dollars,  and  the  poor  man  in  the 
city  pays  twelve  dollars.  Why  is  it  that  they 
pay  more  and  thus  raise  their  cost  of  living  ? 
It  is  because  the  rich  man  has  the  capital  to 
pay  cash  down.  He  not  only  gets  it  at  the 
lowest  rate,  but  gets  a  discount  for  cash 
within  ten  or  thirty  days.  Business  is  ever 
in  favour  of  the  rich.  When  the  mayor  of 
Indianapolis  found  that  the  poor  people  were 
paying  one  dollar  and  a  half  a  bushel  for 
potatoes,  and  that  those  who  bought  them  by 
the  peck  were  paying  more,  he  made  a  com- 
bine with  some  of  the  Christian  men  of  the 
city  and  sent  to  Michigan  for  a  carload  of 


FOOD  FOE  THE  POOE  55 

potatoes,  and  sold  them  to  the  people  at  the 
actual  cost,  plus  the  transportation.  He  sold 
them  for  seventy-five  cents  a  bushel,  and 
then  he  had  an  offer  from  a  town  in  Colorado 
of  potatoes  delivered  in  Indianapolis  for 
sixty-six  cents  a  bushel,  with  no  expense 
attached  beyond  delivery  there. 

One  of  the  great  disadvantages  in  helping 
the  poor  in  that  way  is  in  the  fact  that  they 
have  become  proud  and  try  to  imitate  the  rich. 
They  do  not  go  to  market  as  they  did  in  the 
old  days.  God  bless  the  good  old  market 
basket !  It  makes  one's  heart  leap  for  joy  to 
think  of  the  pleasures  and  treasures  that 
were  connected  with  it.  You  remember 
dear  old  grandma  going  down  to  the  market 
and  picking  out  herself  the  things  that  were 
so  luscious  and  so  cheap.  She  never  found 
any  fault  with  the  price  of  what  she  bought 
when  she  brought  them  home.  She  saved 
part  of  the  market  money  to  buy  a  good 
many  things  her  husband  never  knew  any- 
thing about,  because  she  always  furnished 
the  house  so  well  and  so  loaded  the  table 
with  luxuries.  Oh,  magnificent  old  day 
when  the  women  were  willing  to  go  to 
market !  But  the  time  has  come  that  the 
poor  woman  telephones  for  a  peck  of  potatoes 
and  wishes  them  delivered  done  up  in  beauti- 


56    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

ful  papers  in  order  that  they  may  come  into 
the  house  as  if  they  were  treasures  bought 
from  a  department  store.  She  wants  every- 
thing brought  in  with  expense  added  to  it, 
and  that  pride  has  much  to  do  with  the  high 
cost. 

The  Temple  University  has  three  or  four 
thousand  students,  representing  three  thou- 
sand different  famiUes.  If  the  trustees  of 
that  one  institution  bought  the  potatoes 
for  those  families  and  sold  them  for  cost 
in  this  city,  it  would  be  a  great  Christian 
deed,  and  would  much  reduce  the  cost  of 
living  to  the  poor.  We  would  not  buy  pota- 
toes to  sell  to  the  rich.  They  would  be 
bought  by  the  trainload,  and,  with  cost  of 
delivery  added,  sold  at  cost  to  the  poor.  If 
we  could  deliver  potatoes  guaranteed  to  be 
entirely  whole,  from  the  most  luscious  pro- 
duction of  the  country,  for  sixty-one  cents  a 
bushel,  we  would  be  doing  the  poor  some 
practical  good.  It  would  be  a  direct  good 
deed.  It  would  be  such  a  miracle  as  Christ 
performed  for  the  good  of  the  poor  in  His 
day.  The  difficulty  in  our  way,  perhaps,  is 
the  middleman  between  the  potato  field  and 
the  people  who  buy  them.  It  is  a  very  signif- 
icant fact  that  the  potato  crop  in  this  country 
last  year  netted  the  farmer  a  little  less  than 


FOOD  FOR  THE  POOR  57 

$6,000,000,  and  took  from  the  consumer  over 
$17,000,000.  The  intervening  millions  were 
made  by  the  people  who  act  between — the 
"middlemen.'^  The  farmer  is  not  near 
enough  to  the  consumer ;  the  consumer  is 
not  near  enough  to  the  manufacturer  ;  and 
hence  these  middlemen  are  now  a  necessity. 
But  I  appeal  in  the  name  of  the  Master,  in  the 
name  of  the  poor,  to  the  middleman  to  take 
up  some  great  staple  which  the  poor  need 
and  bring  it  to  them  at  the  barest  cost  over 
the  producer,  that  the  poor  of  our  city  may 
be  fed,  that  they  may  be  clothed,  and  that 
the  poor  may  be  given  a  more  equal  advan- 
tage in  their  battle  with  the  rich. 

Christianity  takes  up  the  lowest  and  lifts 
him  to  the  equal  of  the  highest.  Christianity 
teaches  the  rich  man  to  give  of  his  millions 
that  he  may  not  rise  higher  in  his  selfishness 
and  covetousness.  Christianity  teaches  the 
poor  man  to  be  industrious,  and  teaches  him 
when  he  does  receive  help  from  the  rich  that 
he  ought  to  use  it  to  the  best  advantage  for 
the  promotion  of  his  family.  Christianity 
brings  the  poor  up,  and  the  rich  down.  Oh, 
that  Magnificat  of  Mary,  *'  He  hath  put  down 
the  mighty  from  their  seats  and  exalted  them 
of  low  degree."  That  is  the  purpose  of 
Christianity,   to   save  us,   and   to   make  us 


58    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

equal,  to  show  us  how  to  be  brothers  all  on 
the  same  plane.  In  order  to  accomplish  this 
let  us  begin  now.  The  poor  are  ever  ringing 
our  door-bells.  We  meet  them  on  the  streets, 
on  the  corners  :  **  Give  to  me,  I  am  poor ; 
give  me,  I  am  suffering;  give  me,  I  am  sick." 
The  thing  for  us  to  do  is  not  so  much  to  help 
the  individual  case,  though  that  should  be 
done,  as  it  is  to  set  in  motion  some  great 
movement  for  the  union  of  all  good  men  and 
women  in  behalf  of  the  Lord's  poor.  Let  us, 
friends,  as  disciples  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
"  go  about  doing  good." 


IV 


IT   PAYS  TO  GIVE  TO  GOD 

"  If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts 
unto  your  children,  how  much  more  shall  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  give  good  things  to  them  that  ask 
Him  !  "      [Matt.  vii.  ii.) 

I  HAVE  received  helpful  hints  for  the  text 
of  this  address  in  the  numbers  of  people 
who  have  communicated  with  me  con- 
cerning the  litde  incident  I  mentioned  in  a 
previous  discourse,  in  which  I  said  that  a 
man  in  Massachusetts,  who  had  only  one 
dollar  in  his  pocket,  and  who  wished  to  find 
work,  went  to  the  church  and  put  fifty  cents 
of  that  dollar  in  the  box  as  an  offering  to 
God.  Then  with  only  fifty  cents  in  his  pocket, 
he  went  on  hunting  for  work.  He  found  an 
advertisement  which  said  there  were  wanted 
labourers  of  his  class  in  Marlborough,  Massa- 
chusetts. At  the  ticket  ofBce  he  found  that 
the  price  of  a  ticket  to  Marlborough  was  ex- 
acdy  a  dollar,  and  that  if  he  had  the  fifty 
cents  back  which  he  gave  to  the  church  he 
could  have  paid  his  fare  and  secured  the 
work.  Being  unable  to  buy  a  through  ticket, 
59 


60    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

he  decided  to  buy  as  far  as  fifty  cents  would 
go  and  walk  the  rest  of  the  way.  So  he  left 
the  cars  at  South  Framingham  and  started 
to  walk  to  Marlborough,  on  the  country  road. 
He  approached  a  gentleman  to  inquire  the 
way,  and  the  gentleman  told  him  that  there 
was  a  man  who  wanted  help  in  South  Fram- 
ingham. He  went  around  the  block  and  was 
given  a  salary  of  five  dollars  a  week  more 
than  the  other  situation  offered,  and  he  is  now 
himself  one  of  the  wealthy  men  of  Massa- 
chusetts. He  is  giving  ten  per  cent,  of  his  in- 
come regularly  to  the  Lord's  work,  and  this 
year  he  has  concluded  to  build  with  his  ten 
per  cent,  a  sixty-thousand-dollar  shoe  factory 
and  give  the  entire  income  of  the  factory  to 
the  employees.  That  incident  brought  out 
letters  in  which  I  have  found  very  interesting 
and  pertinent  inquiries. 

There  is  a  universal  belief  in  the  human 
heart  everywhere,  heathen  and  Christian, 
that  there  is  something  to  be  gained  by  mak- 
ing an  offering  to  the  Lord.  In  heathen 
countries  I  have  often  seen  people  bringing 
their  tributes  to  the  temples  and  placing  them 
before  the  idols  or  giving  them  to  the  priests. 
In  every  land  there  is  an  impression,  natural 
to  the  soul,  and  a  part  of  human  thinking 
and  feeling,  that  there  is,  somehow,  some- 


IT  PAYS  TO  GIVE  TO  GOD  61 

thing  to  be  gained  from  the  mysterious 
providence  of  God  by  making  some  offering 
to  these  wonderful  powers,  whether  they  are 
understood  as  our  God,  or  as  heathen  goods. 
It  is  in  nature,  it  is  in  the  very  constitution 
of  man,  it  is  a  truth  of  God,  as  deep  as  our 
conscience,  that  there  is  something  to  be 
gained  by  offerings. 

"  To  be  good  is  to  be  happy,"  says  the 
philosopher  who  cares  nothing  for  the  relig- 
ious side  of  Scriptural  truth.  All  make  offer- 
ings to  these  powers,  to  win  good  fortune,  to 
secure  good  luck  1  The  gambler  believes  in 
that.  He  will  not  gamble  at  a  certain  hour 
on  Friday  ;  he  will  not  use  certain  numbers  ; 
he  wants  4-1 1-44  in  some  sort  of  combination 
in  order  to  win  his  game  at  Monte  Carlo. 
High  and  low,  all  alike,  believe  in  some 
measure  in  the  power  of  offerings. 

This  thought  has  been  brought  to  my  at- 
tention by  these  communications,  especially  in 
two  or  three  instances.  One  gentleman  writes 
me  that  he,  by  accident,  put  a  five-dollar  gold 
piece  in  the  basket  instead  of  a  five-cent 
piece.  It  was  a  surprise  to  me  to  find  that  a 
man  intended  to  put  in  a  five-cent  piece,  be- 
cause usually  the  gift  is  one  cent.  In  this 
congregation  we  get  about  thirty-two  hun- 
dred pennies  in  the  collection  every  Sunday 


62    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

night.  But  this  man  intended  to  give  five 
cents,  and  instead  of  that  accidentally  took 
out  a  five-dollar  gold  piece  and  put  it  into 
the  basket.  I  haven't  any  question  but  that 
the  trustees  expected  the  man  to  come  after 
it,  as  he  usually  does.  But  this  man  was  too 
proud  to  confess  that  he  did  not  give  the  five 
dollars.  He  says  he  needed  that  five  dollars 
very  much  the  next  day,  when  his  wife  came 
to  him  and  wanted  the  usual  market  money 
on  Monday.  He  said,  *'  Wife,  I  have  not  got 
it.'*  She  said,  "  What  have  you  done  with 
that  five  dollars  which  you  had  on  Friday?" 
He  said,  "  I — I — I  gave  it  to  the  church." 
She  was  surprised  at  his  religious  fervour,  as 
she  had  not  expected  anything  of  the  kind 
from  him.  But  he  did  not  confess  to  her  but 
that  he  actually  intended  to  give  the  five  dol- 
lars. He  said,  '*  Wife,  I  think  we  ought  to 
give  more  than  we  do,"  and  defended  him- 
self by  arguing  in  that  way.  In  this  letter  he 
writes  that  the  loss  of  that  five  dollars  com- 
pelled them  to  be  very  economical  that  week 
and  to  cut  down  somewhat.  His  wife  said 
to  him,  "  We  ought  to  cut  down  in  our  liv- 
ing. Didn't  you  hear  Mr.  Conwell  say  that 
the  simplest,  healthiest,  best  breakfast  that 
was  provided  in  the  old  country  consisted  of 
rolls,  coflee  and  a  boiled  egg  ?     Now,"  she 


IT  PAYS  TO  GIVE  TO  GOD  63 

said,  **  let  us  try  that  for  breakfast."  This 
gentleman  writes  me  that  he  is  delighted  that 
they  have  made  the  change.  Before  they 
had  ham  and  beefsteak  and  every  variety  of 
things  for  breakfast,  which  sent  him  out  with 
the  dyspepsia  nearly  every  day.  He  says  he 
has  come  back  to  the  good  old-fashioned 
English  breakfast  of  rolls  and  coflee  and  an 
egg.  He  says  it  does  not  cost  him  ten  per 
cent,  of  what  the  previous  breakfasts  cost, 
and  he  calculates  that  he  has  made  at  least 
two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  year  by  hav- 
ing put  that  five  dollars  in  the  contribution 
basket. 

We  say  that  he  should  not  have  had  the 
credit  of  that.  The  Lord  saw  that  he  in- 
tended to  give  only  five  cents,  yet  we  find 
it  working  out  a  purpose  in  the  providence 
of  God.  I  do  not  think  that  it  affected  his 
family  half  as  much  as  it  will  affect  other 
families,  as  it  will  affect  the  preaching  and 
teaching  of  the  Gospel. 

One  man  said  that  he  put  two  dollars  in 
the  basket  one  morning,  when  we  were  tak- 
ing a  collection  for  missionary  work,  be- 
cause he  had  no  change.  He  had  taken  his 
pocketbook  out,  and  he  did  not  want  the 
people  around  him  to  see  him  put  it  back 
when    he    had    bills   in  it,  and  the  smallest 


64    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

thing"  he  had  was  a  two-dollar  note.  He 
writes  to  me  that  the  next  day  he  lacked  a 
dollar  and  some  cents  of  the  change  neces- 
sary to  pay  a  bill  which  came  to  his  door. 
So  he  told  the  man  he  did  not  have  quite 
enough,  and  that  he  would  come  down  to 
the  store  and  pay  him  there.  Down  to  the 
store  he  went  to  pay  it.  In  the  store  was 
a  salesman  selling  a  certain  class  of  goods  he 
himself  thought  he  would  like  to  represent. 
He  talked  with  the  salesman,  went  down  to  the 
place  which  the  man  represented,  and  has  now 
gone  to  work  for  the  concern  for  which  the 
salesman  was  at  work  who  was  trying  to  sell 
goods  in  the  store  where  he  went  to  pay  his 
bill. 

Many  others  have  written  in  kindred  ways. 
All  of  them  ask,  "  Now,  do  you  believe  that 
you  can  make  a  bargain  with  the  Lord  and 
put  five  dollars  in  the  contribution  basket 
and  get  out  twenty-five  dollars  ?  If  you  do, 
I  will  put  in  five  dollars  every  Sunday." 
That,  I  think,  is  in  the  public  mind  ;  that 
thought  is  in  the  heart  of  some  Christians, 
that  they  can  bargain  with  the  Lord,  that  if 
they  give,  the  Scriptures  teach  that  they  will 
receive  a  hundredfold  more  in  this  present 
time.  Now,  what  the  Scriptures  do  promise 
is   that   he  who  gives  shall  receive   a   hun- 


IT  PAYS  TO  GIVE  TO  GOD  65 

dredfold  in  this  present  time,  on  two  con- 
ditions. The  first  condition  is  that  he  shall 
give  without  an  intention  to  bargain.  A 
man  cannot  experiment  with  God.  It  is  im- 
possible. If  you  try  you  must  fail,  because  it 
must  be  given  with  the  spirit  of  consecration 
and  worship  if  the  giver  is  to  receive  a  hun- 
dredfold more. 

You  give  to  your  child  without  any  thought 
of  your  child  paying  you  back.  I  saw  a 
scene  that  filled  my  heart  with  tenderness 
that  ran  over  from  my  eyes,  this  week.  I 
saw  in  a  station  an  old  man  being  helped 
along  so  tenderly  by  his  daughter.  Oh,  she 
took  such  good  care  of  her  old  father  !  I 
knew  that  family  when  they  were  poor  in 
Somerville,  Massachusetts,  and  I  know  that 
that  child,  when  born  into  that  family,  was 
an  added  burden  to  their  poverty,  and  that 
the  old  man  worked  hard  to  take  care  of  that 
child.  But  his  heart  was  large  and  his  pur- 
pose good,  and  he  sacrificed  for  her  all  the 
time  and  gave  her  money.  He  did  not  give 
her  money  and  attention,  and  watch  her  so 
affectionately,  after  her  mother's  death,  be- 
cause he  was  going  to  be  paid  back  !  Oh, 
no  !  But  now,  oh,  the  blessing  that  God  has 
sent  to  him,  to  have  a  child  standing  by  his 
side   and   directing  his  tottering  steps  with 


66    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

such  exhibition  of  love.  He  is  paid  back  a 
thousandfold  for  all  that  he  did  for  God. 
For  when  one  does  for  love,  pure  and  sim- 
ple, he  works  for  God  anywhere,  not  only 
in  the  church,  but  anywhere  else. 

So  I  thought  I  would  speak  to  you  upon 
the  good  gifts  of  God.  If  a  man  makes 
his  offering  to  God  and  makes  his  prayer 
at  the  time  in  the  right  spirit,  the  promise 
is  that  he  shall  receive  a  hundredfold  more 
in  this  present  time.  What  is  it  he  shall  re- 
ceive ?  He  may  receive  gold.  You  know 
that  Paul  Gogan,  of  Montreal,  Canada,  lived 
to  be  one  hundred  and  eight  years  old.  He 
was  going  down  the  coast  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
River,  and  he  had  given  away  all  that  he  had 
to  help  those  poor  people  up  in  the  woods. 
He  was  going  out  with  a  brave  heart  and 
strong  hand  to  earn  some  more.  As  he  was 
seeking  his  way  he  saw  upon  the  shore  two 
chests  of  gold,  washed  up  from  the  ship  that 
had  been  wrecked  there  in  the  day  of  General 
Montcalm.  Those  were  his  treasure  trove ; 
that  was  God's  treasure,  put  in  his  hand,  and 
he  had  plenty  of  money  for  his  lifetime,  and 
his  children  still  enjoy  the  fruits  of  it.  That 
was  God's  gift  put  right  before  him — gift  of 
gold.  God  does  return  gold  a  hundredfold 
more  to  some  who  give  to  Him.     Yet  He 


IT  PAYS  TO  GIVE  TO  GOD  67 

may  return  it  in  cattle,  which  He  says  are 
His  on  a  thousand  hills  ;  He  may  return  it  in 
land,  in  houses  ;  He  may  return  it  in  beauti- 
ful garments ;  He  may  return  it  as  He  did  to 
Job  ;  He  may  return  it  as  He  did  to  Abraham, 
or  to  Solomon,  or  to  Paul.  God's  treasures 
are  multifarious.  Beautiful  treasures  of  the 
snow  !  The  snow-storm  may  be  an  answer 
to  your  gift.  The  hail-storm  may  come  in 
answer  to  what  you  have  offered ;  the  sun- 
shine may  come,  beautiful  and  bright,  in  an- 
swer to  your  petition.  You  say  you  cannot 
change  nature.  You  do  not  need  to  do  it. 
The  great  and  wise  God  can  adjust  His  sun- 
shine to  your  need  and  your  need  to  His  sun- 
shine. 

One  of  God's  greatest  gifts  is  a  good  name. 

An  incident  flashes  back  on  my  thought 
now.  A  young  man — a  middle-aged  man 
now — was  arrested  for  stealing,  of  which  he 
was  guilty.  He  was  sent  to  the  House  of 
Correction  for  one  or  two  years.  After  he 
came  out  he  reformed  in  every  way,  was  a 
Christian  young  man,  and  worked  and 
laboured  to  live  down  the  disgrace  of  it.  He 
was  engaged  to  be  married  to  a  young 
woman,  and  the  question  came  to  his  con- 
science, whether  he  ought  to  tell  her  he  was 
once  in  prison.     Some  day  she  might  find  it 


68    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

out  if  he  did  not ;  it  worried  him  and  troubled 
him  much ;  it  was  a  question  whether  he  ought 
not  for  her  sake  to  keep  it  altogether  to  him- 
self. But  he  had  to  obey  his  conscience. 
He  told  her  frankly  that  he  had  been  in  prison 
years  before,  for  stealing,  of  which  he  was 
guilty.  She  thought  of  her  parents,  and  how 
they  would  feel  if  they  found  out  she  had 
married  a  convict ;  so  she  ventured  to  tell  her 
mother  about  it,  and  then  the  family  turned 
against  him  and  turned  her  from  him,  and 
he  works  on  alone  without  wife  and  domes- 
tic life,  because  he  had  a  bad  name.  The 
Scriptures  say  a  good  name  is  rather  to  be 
chosen  than  great  riches.  Yet  God  may 
preserve  a  good  name  for  a  man  who  makes 
an  offering  to  Him,  and  so  give  him  the 
greatest  possible  treasure. 

There  is  a  treasure  in  love  that  God  gives 
greater  than  money,  beyond  the  estimation 
of  any  jewel.  There  is  a  treasure  in  friends 
that  God  confers  in  answer  to  our  offering. 
God  again  and  again  insists  that  wisdom  is 
His  greatest  gift  in  any  earthly  matter.  He 
gives  wisdom  to  men.  They  know  more, 
they  think  more,  they  live  more,  because  they 
give  to  Him.  It  may  not  return  in  money. 
Money  might  be  the  greatest  dross  in  a  return 
from  God.     God,  who  sees  best  and  knows 


IT  PAYS  TO  GIVE  TO  GOD  69 

most,  will  give  us  what  is  best  for  our  good, 
and  He  may  be  giving  us  wisdom  instead  of 
money ;  He  may  be  giving  us  skill  as  He 
often  has  done  in  answer  to  the  petitions  of 
men  ;  He  may  be  giving  us  beauty  of  person 
and  beauty  of  character  and  beauty  of  spirit 
and  beauty  of  soul,  which  is  above  all  possible 
price.  He  may  be  giving  to  us  on  Christmas 
another  boy  or  girl  to  feed,  and  we  think  that 
He  is  cursing  us  with  care  and  burden  instead 
of  bringing  to  us  joy ;  and  yet  His  gifts,  that 
seem  at  the  time  to  be  a  burden,  may  prove 
to  be  the  most  wonderful  treasury  of  riches 
that  ever  came  to  our  house.  God  gives 
conscience  ;  washes  our  consciences  clean  and 
white,  God's  gift  to  Elijah,  the  greatest  gift 
that  ever  came  to  him,  was  that  means  of 
communication  by  which  he  could  recognize 
the  spirit  of  God  and  follow  its  precepts, 
knowing  for  certain  that  he  was  being  led 
of  God. 

I  would  give  more  at  this  moment  for  that 
one  thing  than  for  all  the  earth  has  for  me. 
Oh,  to  know  for  certain  that  God's  spirit 
and  providence  accurately  takes  my  steps 
and  leads  me  in  the  very  best  way,  where  I 
may  do  the  most  good  !  I  consecrate  myself 
again,  I  put  myself  before  Him  again,  and 
nothing  under  the  high  heavens,  of  gold  or  of 


70    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

ambition,  or  of  personal  pleasure,  or  of  friends 
or  love  shall  stand  between  me  and  the 
leadership  of  my  God.  I  would  give  more 
to  have  the  certain  assurance  that  He  will 
lead  me,  and  that  I  shall  make  no  error,  that 
I  shall  be  everywhere  in  such  a  relation  as  to 
do  the  most  good  to  the  greatest  number  all 
the  days  that  are  left  to  me,  than  for  all  the 
hundredfold  more  of  gold  or  lands  or  cattle 
or  houses  or  name. 

When  Andrew  Jackson  went  from  the 
presidency  back  to  his  home  in  Tennessee  he 
had  had  wealth,  he  had  had  the  highest 
position  the  nation  could  give  to  him,  but 
there,  in  the  privacy  of  retired  life,  he  read 
the  Bible  and  he  sought  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  He  gave  his  heart  to  the  Saviour, 
and  went  around  continually  proclaiming  that 
of  all  the  treasures  that  life  had  brought  to 
him  from  his  humble  life  up  to  the  presidency, 
there  was  no  treasure  so  valuable  as  the  pearl 
of  greatest  possible  price,  the  sense  of  God's 
salvation  in  his  heart.  Andrew  Jackson  was 
right  about  it ;  he  died  in  the  simplicity  of 
faith,  with  his  friends  around  his  bedside, 
telling  them  that  above  all  price  was  the  gift 
of  salvation,  above  all  value  the  holy  Book, 
and  urging  them  to  love  God  and  serve  Plim 
and  meet   him  in  heaven.     God's  treasures 


IT  PAYS  TO  GIVE  TO  GOD  71 

are  better  than  ours  ;  He  knows  what  is  more 
for  our  good  than  anything  else.  A  man 
may  make  an  offering  to  God,  and  instead  of 
getting  bacic  money,  or  friends,  or  position, 
he  may  find  his  heart  interested  in  the  cause 
of  Christ  and  God,  may  surrender  to  its 
influence,  and  come  into  the  glory  of  ever- 
lasting life.  The  greatest  pearl,  the  most 
valuable  jewel  in  all  God's  gifts,  has  often 
come  to  him  who  made  his  offering  to  God, 
while  his  heart  naturally  followed  his  gift,  to 
see  what  would  become  of  it,  and  then  God 
blessed  him  with  everlasting  life. 


V 

GRACEFULNESS 

"  The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you  all. 
Amen."     (2  Cor.  xiii.  14,) 

THERE  are  some  people  who  ought 
to  ride  in  an  automobile.  A  roman- 
tic little  fact  that  might  have  been 
taken  out  of  a  book  illustrates  this  text. 
Two  years  ago,  out  at  Franklin,  Pennsyl- 
vania, there  lived  a  miner  who  was  depend- 
ent somewhat  upon  his  son-in-law  and  his 
daughter,  as  he  was  old  and  alone  in  the 
world  and  could  earn  only  a  part  of  what 
was  necessary  for  his  maintenance.  The  old 
man  felt  grieved  that  he  must  depend  upon 
his  son-in-law,  and  mentioned  it  often.  The 
son-in-law  said  but  litde,  while  he  probably 
did  feel  the  burden  of  it,  as  he  also  was  de- 
pendent upon  his  day's  wages.  The  daughter 
was  unhappy  in  the  home,  because  she  felt 
that  her  husband  was  supporting  her  father, 
and  that  when  she  married  her  husband  he 
"  did  not  marry  the  whole  family."  There 
was  a  feeling  in  the  hearts  of  all  in  that  fam- 
72 


GEACEFULNESS  73 

ily   which  every   reader    probably   can    ap- 
preciate. 

Finally  the  old  father  went  down  to  Texas, 
and  a  year  ago  he  was  given  a  piece  of  land 
for  his  services  there  in  organizing  a  com- 
pany, and  on  that  land  are  fast- gushing  wells 
of  oil.  That  father  came  back  to  Franklin, 
not  having  communicated  with  his  daughter. 
He  came  back  in  the  same  suit  which  he 
wore  when  he  went  from  the  door,  ragged, 
without  a  collar,  his  hair  uncombed,  the  same 
old  hat,  only  more  worn.  As  he  came  in, 
dejected,  solemn  and  ragged,  in  the  old 
clothes,  his  daughter  greeted  him  cheerfully 
and  kindly,  asked  if  she  should  get  him 
something  to  eat,  and  if  he  did  not  "  want 
a  cup  of  tea,"  and  seemed  sincerely  glad  to 
see  him  home.  Said  he  :  *'  Daughter,  I  have 
come  home  to  you  again.  Your  old  father 
has  come  back  to  see  if  you  are  willing  to 
take  care  of  ^him  the  rest  of  his  life.  Your 
old  father  has  made  up  his  mind  that  he  can- 
not work  any  more ;  he  cannot  earn  any- 
thing now."  The  daughter  said  :  "  Father, 
we  have  not  even  as  much  as  we  had  when 
you  went  away,  but  what  little  we  do  have 
I  am  sure  that  my  husband  and  I  will  be 
glad  to  divide  with  you."  And  the  old  man 
clasped   her  and  said  :  *'  My  daughter,  my 


74    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

daughter,  they  say  that  Christ  sometimes 
comes  to  the  home  in  rags  and  asks  for  help, 
and  that  old  story  I  heard  when  I  was  in 
Germany  in  my  youth  has  brought  me  home 
in  these  rags.  I  won't  make  you  feel  so  bad 
another  minute,  my  daughter.  Henceforth 
you  shall  ride  in  an  automobile."  They 
have  moved  to  Pittsburgh,  and  it  was  from 
Pittsburgh  friends  that  I  heard  this  incident, 
and  at  the  East  End  they  are  now  construct- 
ing a  fine  mansion.  We  are  glad  she  can 
ride  in  an  automobile. 

There  are  daughters  who  would  have  wel- 
comed their  fathers  with  a  scowl.  They 
would  have  said :  "  We  cannot  take  care  of 
you.  You  must  go  to  the  poorhouse.  We 
cannot  take  care  of  all  our  relations."  There 
are  people  who  would  have  said  that,  and 
perhaps  some  of  them  ride  in  automobiles ; 
I  hope  they  will  not  ride  there  long.  But 
the  touching  incident  I  have  related  is  men- 
tioned to  show  that  the  daughter  had  grace 
— the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ !  What 
is  grace  ?  It  seems  to  be  sought  by  the 
apostles  more  than  almost  anything  else,  and 
the  last  thing  they  said  at  parting,  as  it  was 
the  first  thing  they  said  when  they  opened 
their  meetings,  was,  *'  The  grace  of  the  Lord 
Jesus    Christ    be    with   you."     Praying   for 


GRACEFULNESS  75 

grace.  How  beautifully  it  was  exhibited  in 
that  poor  daughter's  life  when  her  father 
came  in  his  rags  and  she  thought  he  would 
be  the  object  of  their  charity.  How  hard  it 
is  to  define  real  grace,  especially  the  grace 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

But  it  is  the  beauty,  the  halo,  the  added 
things  which  do  not  constitute  the  necessities 
of  human  life. 

To  be  without  grace  is  to  be  in  a  dwelling 
with  no  flower  in  the  window ;  to  be  in  a 
school  with  no  picture ;  a  church  with  no 
stained  glass  windows ;  a  street  with  no 
shady  trees ;  a  cathedral  with  no  arches ;  a 
park  with  no  flowers  ;  youth  without  beauty ; 
sunset  without  colour,  and  love  without  a 
smile.  To  have  grace  is  to  have  a  shine  on 
your  shoes,  a  tailor's  cut  to  your  clothing,  a 
ribbon  at  your  neck,  a  white  cloth  on  your 
table,  a  painting  on  your  wall,  decorated 
china  on  your  sideboard,  a  rug  on  the  floor, 
a  rose  in  your  yard,  paint  on  your  fence, 
ornaments  in  your  church.  To  be  graceful 
is  to  move  delicately  and  easily,  to  dress 
daintily,  to  speak  appropriately,  to  think 
beautiful  ideas,  to  be  in  place,  to  be  sweetly 
generous  and  sincerely  polite.  He  who 
would  have  grace  must  work  overtime,  give 
more  than  the  contract,  do  better  than  the 


76    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

model,  furnish  goods  finer  than  the  sample, 
go  farther  than  he  is  asked,  teach  more  than 
the  text-book,  think  beyond  his  occupation, 
love  more  than  his  own  family,  be  willing  to 
decrease  while  others  increase,  be  continually 
doing  unexpected  and  unrequired  acts  of 
kindness.  God's  grace  includes  all  that 
which  gives  us  more  than  we  deserve.  Our 
grace  includes  all  we  do  for  others'  good 
which  we  are  not  compelled  to  do  and  are 
not  paid  for  doing. 

That,  in  a  manner,  touches  this  difficult 
word  '*  grace."  It  is  like  a  gate  to  a  park 
which  opens  into  unknown  beauty,  the  great 
joys  of  which  we  see  only  in  most  distant 
glimpses.  But  when  the  apostles  prayed  for 
grace  and  asked  above  all  other  things  that 
the  grace  of  God  might  abide  upon  their 
Christian  children,  they  were  asking  for  them 
the  greatest  boon.  It  should  be  our  prayer 
to-day. 

Do  you  remember  how  Christ  introduced 
the  wonderful  Lord's  prayer?  I  think  few 
people  remember  the  words  which  introduced 
it.  "  After  this  manner  pray  ye."  What 
manner  ?  Shall  we  declaim,  **  Our  Father 
who  art  in  heaven,  hallowed  be  Thy  name  "  ? 
Do  you  think  that  was  Christ's  manner  ?  Do 
you  think  He  chanted  it  in  monotone  ?     Do 


GEACEFULNESS  77 

you  think  that  was  His  manner  ?  What  was 
the  manner  of  the  Son  of  God  when  He 
prayed  tha,t  wonderful  prayer  ?  We  need 
much  grace  to  utter  that  prayer,  inasmuch 
as  it  is  so  frequently  repeated.  We  need 
more  grace  with  every  repetition,  that  we 
may  not  pray  it  unworthily.  Think  of  Jesus 
Himself  standing  and  saying,  *'  Our  Father." 
Why,  the  very  thought  is  sublime  beyond 
any  form  of  expression  !  Jesus  saying,  "  Our 
Father  who  art  in  heaven,  hallowed  be  Thy 
name ;  Thy  kingdom  come ;  Thy  will  be 
done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."  I  cannot 
imagine  it.  It  is  not  enough  to  say  the  mere 
words.  Words  have  no  intrinsic  grace  at 
all.  It  is  an  added  something  that^is  grace. 
It  is  a  reverence,  a  beauty,  a  loveliness,  a 
spirit  that  is  added,  halo-like,  which  gilds  it, 
adorns  it.  That  is  grace.  The  apostles 
prayed  for  that  grace.  Oh,  that  we  could 
pray  that  prayer  as  Jesus  prayed. 

Then  when  He  sat  at  the  table  on  that  last 
night  and  gave  His  instructions  to  the  disci- 
ples, the  Book  states  that  *'  after  this  manner 
He  took  the  cup."  After  this  grace  He  took 
the  cup.  I  have  sometimes  felt  miserably 
sinful  and  unworthy  as  I  have  stood  at  the 
table  of  the  Lord  and  tried  to  get  a  picture 
of  Jesus  standing  there  as  He  took  that  cup 


78    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

and  passed  it  down  to  His  disciples.  He 
did  not  take  up  a  great  tray  covered  with  a 
row  of  cups  and  say,  '*  Now  take  this  tray 
down  the  table  and  each  one  of  you  take  one 
and  drink  by  your  lonesome  self."  He  did 
not  say  that.  That  was  not  His  "  manner." 
His  manner  was  that  of  loving  kindness 
divine.  His  grace  of  movement,  tone,  situ- 
ation, everything,  was  that  of  the  divine  Son 
of  God.  *'  After  this  manner  also  He  took 
the  cup  and  gave  to  His  disciples,"  and  He 
said,  "  Drink  ye  all  of  it."  The  cup  He  had 
blessed  passed  down  that  table  while  He  sat 
there.  His  presence  giving  it  divine  bene- 
diction of  grace.  If  you  picture  that  in  your 
imagination,  your  soul  is  lost  in  worship. 
Oh,  to  have  seen  it !  I  would  like  to  have 
heard  Him  sing.  But  I  would  have  loved 
more  to  have  recognized  His  grace  in  the 
intangible  spirit  of  love. 

Oh,  there  is  a  right  way  of  doing  a  right 
thing,  and  there  is  a  wicked  way  of  doing  a 
right  thing.  A  man  once  owed  me  seven- 
teen dollars.  I  needed  that  money  very 
much,  so  I  asked  him  for  it  twice.  He  was 
oflended,  as  nearly  every  debtor  is  in  such 
case,  because  there  is  no  surer  way  to  make 
an  enemy  of  a  man  than  to  lend  him  money 
without  security.     He  was  offended  and  he 


GEACEFULNESS  79 

came  to  my  door,  and  when  I  opened  it  to 
him  he  threw  those  silver  dollars  into  the 
front  hall  and  said,  **  There,  take  your  debt," 
and  went  mumbling  down  the  path.  He 
owed  me  that  money  and  he  ought  to  have 
paid  it.  It  was  his  duty  to  pay.  But  it  was 
wrong  to  pay  it  in  that  way.  There  is  a 
wrong  way  of  doing  a  right  thing. 

If  the  rich  men  of  the  country  had  more 
grace,  which  comes  from  the  love  of  one's 
fellow  man,  capitalists  and  working  men 
would  be  the  most  intimate  friends,  and  pros- 
perity instead  of  hard  times  would  face  the 
American  people.  There  is  an  ungraceful 
way  of  doing  the  right  thing. 

A  physician  enters  a  room  and  prescribes 
for  a  patient.  He  may  prescribe  the  very 
best  medicines,  and  yet  may  drive  that 
patient  into  a  fever  that  will  be  certain  to 
destroy  his  life,  simply  by  his  manner.  He 
may  come  in  roughly  and  gruffly,  or  he  may 
scold  at  the  nurse  and  at  the  people  in  the 
house,  and  he  may  be  a  curse  to  the  whole 
house. 

How  true  it  is  of  preaching.  Oh,  that  we 
knew  how  to  preach  I  There  does  not  seem 
to  be  a  living  man  on  earth  now  who  knows 
how  to  preach  the  Gospel.  We  all  lack 
grace,  lack  the  ability  to  so  present  it  as  to 


80    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHBIST  LIFE 

make  it  acceptable  to  the  mind  and  reason 
of  the  people  who  listen.  Oh,  for  the  grace 
of  the  old  apostles  I  Oh,  for  the  grace  of  the 
church  fathers,  who,  while  they  did  not  say 
those  things  that  were  especially  wise,  did 
say  them  with  a  grace  and  love  which  turned 
the  hearts  of  thousands  unto  God.  The 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  necessary 
even  when  we  are  doing  right.  How  true 
it  is  of  worship. 

One  other  illustration.  Esther  was  taken 
in  before  the  king,  and  the  Scriptures  say 
"  She  found  grace  in  his  sight."  My  atten- 
tion was  called  this  week  to  the  influence  of 
a  young  woman  who  is  a  stenographer  in  an 
office  in  this  city.  Three  persons  have  been 
converted  to  Jesus  Christ  in  the  last  few 
weeks  by  that  stenographer.  When  I  asked 
one  of  them  what  it  was  that  gave  her  such 
an  influence,  he  said  :  "  It  is  something  about 
her  Christian  manner.  She  is  such  a  genuine 
Christian  woman.  No  one  would  think  of 
approaching  her  with  a  wicked  suggestion  or 
a  vile  oath — not  one — because  her  woman- 
hood is  so  true,  her  character  so  clear,  and 
her  manner  so  modest  that  when  she  speaks 
men  listen  respectfully."  Oh,  for  the  grace 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  have  such  an  in- 
fluence   as   that !      I   look  upon   the   great 


geaceful:n^ess  81 

classes  of  young  women  who  are  going  into 
offices  as  stenographers,  with  a  trembling  in 
my  heart.  It  is  the  most  dangerous  occupa- 
tion. No  occupation  on  earth  is  more  severe. 
They  ought  to  be  warned,  strengthened, 
cautioned  and  founded  in  Christian  character, 
deep  and  sure,  before  they  venture  out  alone 
among  men,  to  do  that  kind  of  work.  I 
beUeve  that  women  ought  to  do  it.  I  believe 
the  way  ought  to  be  open  to  them  and  to 
higher  occupations  and  to  more  remunerative 
work.  I  approve  of  the  young  woman 
studying  for  business,  provided  she  has  the 
*'  grace"  that  characterized  this  one  who  has 
drawn  all  those  around  her  to  righteousness 
and  goodness.  Provided  she  has  always  the 
transfigured  character,  unmovable  in  right- 
eousness and  grace.  Esther  found  grace  in 
the  king's  sight.  Ask  any  man  what  is  his 
highest  ideal  of  womanhood  and  he  will  tell 
you  it  is  that  **  womanly  grace  "  which  cannot 
be  put  into  words  and  cannot  be  painted  upon 
canvas.  It  is  something  extraneous  and 
yet  something  intrinsic ;  something  added. 
A  mere  human  animal  and  a  graceful  woman 
are  so  wide  apart  that  manhood  recognizes 
the  difference  at  a  glance. 

When  I  was  at  the  university  in  Munich, 
years  ago,  Professor  Virchow  came  there  to 


82    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

lecture.  The  little  nervous  man  was  at  that 
time  in  the  whirl  of  politics,  advocating 
reforms  in  Germany,  and  since  that  day 
he  has  been  the  greatest  scientist  that  this 
world  ever  knew.  He  died  a  few  days 
ago  at  eighty-two  years  of  age.  He  was 
greater  than  Huxley ;  he  knew  far  more  tha» 
Darwin.  There  is  not  a  hospital  now  in  a 
civilized  land  that  could  not  find  "  Virchow  " 
written  on  almost  anything  that  it  has  and 
does.  He  was  the  originator  of  the  "cell 
theory."  He  began  the  systematic  bacteria 
investigations,  especially  of  typhoid  fever, 
smallpox  and  cholera.  It  was  Virchow  who 
laid  the  foundations  for  the  mightiest  advance 
that  science  has  made  in  bacteriology.  I 
recall  how  he  looked  when  he  came  into  the 
lecture  room  at  the  university.  What  a 
sense  of  grace  there  was  about  the  man. 
While  he  joked  in  the  midst  of  his  lectures, 
the  students  never  thought  of  ridiculing  him. 
He  was  very  eccentric  in  his  manner.  He 
was  not  an  orator.  He  was  nervous.  He 
was  absurd  in  many  ways.  But  there  was 
an  inexpressible  **  grace "  about  the  man. 
He  was  so  attractive.  You  listened  in  spite 
of  yourself,  and  you  felt  that  you  loved  him 
before  you  had  heard  him  a  half  hour. 

That  great  scientist,  through  all  the  scien- 


GEACEFULNESS  83 

tific  discussions  concerning  the  Bible,  and 
often  against  Christianity,  stood  firm.  When 
Huxley  and  Darwin  and  others  were  con- 
demning Christianity,  Professor  Virchow, 
the  greatest  scientist  that  ever  lived,  stood 
straight  and  true  for  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity.  He  regretted  "that 
men  would  spend  their  time  assailing  an 
institution  so  valuable  to  the  world  as  the 
Christian  Church."  It  was  the  grace  of  the 
man.  Although  he  was  in  politics  for  years, 
and  although  he  was  also  an  archaeologist 
and  went  into  a  great  variety  of  occupations, 
yet  in  each  he  was  the  king — ^jack  of  all 
trades,  and  yet  a  success  in  them  all.  Pro- 
fessor Virchow's  influence  on  the  world,  the 
grace  of  the  man,  his  goodness  of  heart,  the 
outspringing  of  his  sympathy,  his  desire  to 
do  right  and  be  right,  had  an  influence  upon 
his  students  which  made  them  nobler,  more 
ambitious  for  righteousness,  more  persistent 
seekers  after  truth  for  the  love  of  the  truth. 
Professor  Virchow's  life  had  grace  in  it.  Oh, 
if  I  were  called  upon  to  speak  upon  the  life 
of  Virchow  I  should  speak  entirely  upon  the 
grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  was  about 
his  movements,  his  words,  his  home  life,  his 
public  life,  his  entire  character.  Benefactor 
of  the  world  beyond  any  compare,  perhaps, 


84    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

since  the  day  of  Christ,  was  Professor 
Virchow.  You  cannot  use  over-extravagant 
language  about  him ;  and  yet  the  chief  merit 
of  his  life  was  that  sweet,  lovable  grace  of 
character  that  impressed  all  beholders.  May 
the  grace  of  his  example  influence  us  all. 


VI 

WORK  SHOULD  BE  PLAY 

"  Then  they  departed  from  the  presence  of  the  council, 
rejoicing  that  they  were  accounted  worthy  to  suffer  shame 
for  His  name."     (^Acts  v.  41.) 

BEAUTY  is  its  own  payment.  "  Virtue 
is  its  own  reward."  We  have  heard 
that  ever  since  we  were  school  chil- 
dren, but  few  of  us  have  ever  reached  a  full 
understanding"  of  what  the  great  philosopher 
meant.  I  think  that  the  parents  of  Noah  had 
something  of  this  sublime  idea,  when  they 
named  their  child.  As  is  explained  in  the 
Scriptures,  they  named  him  Noah  because  he 
was  to  bring  them  "  comfort  in  their  work"  ; 
he  was  to  make  their  work  enjoyable.  Joseph 
had  the  same  idea  when  he  named  his  son 
Manasseh,  because  he  said,  *'  He  has  made 
me  forget  my  toil."  The  aposde  said, 
**  Count  it  all  joy  when  ye  fall  into  divers 
temptations." 

To  present  this  subject    in   as  condensed 
a  form  as  I  can,  I  will  say  that  at  last  Chris- 
tianity, working  out  into  society  and  giving 
85 


86    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

its  slow  but  continual  impulse  to  the  modern 
educational  affairs  of  the  world,  has  brought 
into  being  the  kindergarten — that  is,  the 
Christian,  the  Godlike  idea  concerning  the 
education  of  the  world.  Education,  labour, 
and  any  sort  of  toil  ought  to  be  play.  There 
should  be  no  such  thing  as  hard  work  in  the 
world,  as  we  understand  the  modern  sense  of 
that  term.  All  labour  should  be  play,  and 
all  play,  in  the  opposite  sense,  should  be 
labour.  Now,  under  the  kindergarten  sys- 
tem, the  very  fundamental  idea  is  the  Christian 
idea  expressed  in  this  verse  concerning  Peter 
and  John.  They  were  rejoicing  that  they 
were  counted  worthy  to  suffer  for  His  name's 
sake.  Even  suffering  was  a  joy.  Labour 
and  toil  were  pleasure  and  play. 

When  the  kindergarten  system  was  adopted 
it  was  adopted  with  the  idea  that  we  ought 
to  make  this  world  happier  ;  and  that  people 
engaging  in  toil  ought  to  do  it  in  a  different 
spirit.  Consequently  childhood  is  taken 
through  a  series  of  plays  all  the  way  upward 
into  greater  and  greater  wisdom,  and  its  work 
is  made  sport.  That  is  the  new  education. 
It  must  be  carried  into  higher  walks  of  edu- 
cational life,  and  the  college  student  must 
learn  that  in  order  to  achieve  the  ideal  type 
of  humanity,  he  needs  to  make  his  study  as 


WOEK  SHOULD  BE  PLAY  87 

much  his  play  as  is  his  baseball  or  football 
or  rowing.  There  is  too  strong  a  division 
made  between  what  is  play  and  what  is  work 
in  college  and  university  life. 

Men  spend  hours  over  some  little  wooden 
puzzle.  There  are  much  greater  puzzles  in 
Euclid  and  in  solid  geometry  than  in  any 
such  combination  of  wooden  sticks.  And  yet 
a  man  will  spend  his  days  uselessly  over  that 
which  gives  him  but  little  discipline  of  mind  ; 
and  the  same  man,  thinking  Euclid  is  work, 
refuses  to  touch  it. 

The  time  is  coming  when  Christ  will  have 
built  up  that  ideal  man  whose  life  will  be  all 
joy  and  play.  Not  a  thing  will  he  be  called 
upon  to  do  which  is  a  duty  that  he  will  not  do 
as  readily  and  enthusiastically  as  if  he  were  en- 
gaged in  a  game.  In  the  ideal  Christian  of 
the  future  that  Christ  came  to  build  upon  the 
earth,  man  will  all  the  while  be  at  work  in  the 
sense  of  helping  and  inspiring,  yet  all  the 
time  at  play. 

What  is  the  pay  for  the  Grecian  races  ? 
One  spends  four  years  in  discipline  of  body  ; 
he  spends  many  days  previous  to  the  race 
on  plain  food  and  in  exercises  that  seem  to 
be  so  severe,  for  the  purpose  of  running  from 
Marathon  to  Athens.  When  he  has  won  the 
race,  what  does  he  receive  but  a  crown  of 


88    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

laurels  ?  He  has  worked  years  and  months 
for  the  purpose  of  getting  that  crown.  Of 
what  use  is  it  to  him  ?  If  it  were  to  bring 
him  real  ability  of  mind,  or  high  position  in 
the  political  world,  we  might  as  human  beings 
think  it  worth  all  his  labour;  but  he  gets 
only  the  applause  of  the  people  who  see  him 
enter  the  stadium.  Yet  that  is  the  most  en- 
joyable thing  in  his  hfe.  He  has  worked 
harder  for  it  than  anything  he  has  ever 
undertaken,  and  made  sacrifices  for  it  such 
as  he  has  never  made  in  the  daily  walks  of 
life — all  for  the  little  crown  and  the  little  ap- 
plause ;  yet  he  has  enjoyed  all  the  toil. 
Now,  if  this  very  thought  could  be  taken,  as 
the  Apostle  Paul  tried  to  inculcate  it,  into 
the  daily  living  of  Christian  experience,  all 
our  duty  made  but  a  delightful  race  like  his 
who  is  seeking  to  win  the  goal,  a  race  wherein 
we  consider  every  sacrifice  a  joy  and  the  run- 
ning the  supremest  of  delight,  then  should 
we  have  the  ideal  man  Christ  had  in  view 
when  He  came  to  put  His  character  into  men. 
There  are  two  kinds  of  fishermen.  One 
kind  goes  reluctantly  aboard  the  vessel,  lies 
about  dreading  fishing,  sails  out  on  the  banks, 
and,  weary  when  he  begins,  pulls  in  codfish 
by  the  thousand,  stores  them  in  the  hold, 
comes    home  weary,  complaining;  the  fish 


WOEK  SHOULD  BE  PLAY  89 

are  sold,  and  life  is  dull,  monotonous  and 
hard.  I  know  of  no  life  that  seems  to  be 
more  severe  than  the  life  of  those  fishermen 
off  the  banks  who  are  exposed  to  storms,  trials 
and  sacrifices.  Yet  you  see  another  man 
from  the  city  of  Boston  who  does  not  need 
any  fish,  who  has  no  place  for  them  when  he 
catches  them ;  he  does  not  care  to  eat  any  of 
them  ;  and  yet  he  fits  up  his  yacht  at  the  ex- 
pense of  thousands  of  dollars  and  goes  out 
on  the  same  banks,  and  fishes  patiently  there 
and  enjoys  it  to  such  an  extent  that  he  grows 
fleshy,  cheerful  and  Christian  ;  he  sails  home, 
throws  away  his  fish  as  he  comes  up  the  har- 
bour, goes  to  his  family  and  says,  **  I  have 
had  a  most  delightful  time.  I  have  been  out 
catching  codfish."  Why  should  not  the  man 
who  goes  out  from  Gloucester  go  out  with 
the  same  spirit  and  enjoy  the  pulling  in  of 
those  same  fish  ?  It  is  because  of  the  sinful 
inconsistencies  in  human  life  that  a  man  en- 
joys better  that  which  brings  him  nothing 
than  that  which  brings  him  much.  It  is  this 
inconsistency  that  Christ  was  trying  to  exter- 
minate from  the  minds  of  men  ;  and  we  find 
Peter  and  John  had  reached  this  excellent 
standard  when  they  said  they  rejoiced, 
counted  it  all  joy  that  they  were  *^  worthy  to 
suffer  shame  for  His  name's  sake." 


90    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

What  a  difference  there  is  in  people  who 
wear  diamonds  !  I  have  often  been  inter- 
ested in  looking  upon  the  diamonds  flashing 
in  a  company.  Nine  out  of  ten  wear  them 
to  arouse  in  the  minds  of  other  people  envy 
or  respect  for  their  riches ;  they  were  worn 
to  flash  out  on  an  astonished  world  their 
owners'  egotism.  But  once  in  a  while  I  see 
on  the  hand  of  modesty  a  diamond  flash  that 
I  know  is  not  there  because  of  a  desire  to 
arouse  envy  in  others.  I  feel  by  instinct  that 
it  was  given  her  by  some  one  who  sincerely 
loved  her,  and  that  she  herself  enjoys  its 
beauty. 

Mr.  Beecher  would  never  wear  a  diamond, 
but  he  always  had  gems  in  his  pocket.  In 
the  last  twenty-five  years  of  his  life  he  could 
put  his  hand  into  his  pocket  and  take  out,  not 
a  handful,  but  twenty-five  or  thirty  diamonds, 
some  of  them  very  large  and  valuable  ;  and 
when  he  had  been  intent  upon  study,  or  de- 
sired some  interesting  diversion,  he  would 
sit  by  himself  and  look  over  those  gems,  one 
by  one,  and  enjoy  the  wonderful  beauty  of 
the  last  and  highest  of  God's  mineral  crea- 
tions. There  is  this  difference  between  the 
wearers  of  diamonds.  One  wears  them  not 
for  the  joy  she  is  to  get  out  of  them,  but  for 
the  unhappiness  she  proposes  to  give  other 


WOEK  SHOULD  BE  PLAT  91 

people ;  and  the  other  wears  them  because 
of  the  pure  joy  they  give  to  her. 

We  are  told  in  the  Bible  by  the  apostle 
that  he  would  that  the  young  women  should 
marry  and  should  bear  children ;  how  often 
in  our  modern  life  young  women  and  young 
men  refuse  to  marry  or  to  bear  children  be- 
cause of  the  great  care  the  children  would  be 
to  them.  A  little  one  cries  by  night  and 
must  be  continually  attended.  It  must  be 
the  subject  of  continual  watch-care,  and  of 
great  expense ;  and  consequently  young 
men  or  wom.en  draw  back  from  the  awful 
responsibility  of  fatherhood  or  motherhood, 
forgetting  that  motherhood  is  its  own  reward, 
that  motherhood  does  not  consist  in  what  is 
to  be  gained  when  the  children  are  old  and 
shall  leave  home,  but  in  the  continual  supply 
of  joy  which  comes  from  every  action  of  care. 
How  beautiful  is  motherhood  1  How  mag- 
nificent it  is  ! 

In  these  days,  when  children  are  so  few, 
the  world  is  losing  its  richest  and  best  expe- 
riences ;  it  is  getting  farther  and  farther  from 
God  because  of  the  fact  that  the  actual  care 
of  children,  while  it  is  going  on  every  day 
and  night,  is  not,  as  it  should  be,  the  great- 
est joy  that  comes  to  any  human  life.  The 
bringing  up  of  children,  we  say,  is  difficult 


92    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

and  hard.  Ah,  let  them  be  taken  by  death, 
and  then  look  back  and  see  what  joy  you 
might  have  had,  if  you  did  not  really  have  it, 
with  every  day  of  their  care.  It  is  said  that 
in  many  of  the  Grecian  races  they  seek  a 
handicap.  They  want  the  honour  and  name 
of  being  handicapped  ;  that  is,  being  obliged 
to  carry  some  heavier  weight,  or  to  give 
their  antagonist  a  few  rods  or  miles  the  start. 
They  say  that  because  they  want  to  under- 
take a  difficult  thing,  to  overcome  an  antago- 
nist who  had  an  advantage  over  them.  If 
this  thought  were  to  get  into  character  until 
we  enjoyed  it  in  everything,  until  we  sought 
the  hardest  places  and  the  most  difficult 
undertakings  because  they  are  hard  and 
difficult,  and  enjoyed  them  the  more  for  that 
— oh,  life  would  be  heavenly !  Oh,  to  be 
able  to  undertake  anything  in  reason  and 
enjoy  it ;  and  the  harder  the  task  the  greater 
the  delight  I 

The  reason  why  progressive  euchre  is  evil, 
so  far  as  I  understand  it,  is  that  it  becomes 
evil  when  it  becomes  gambling.  If  a  person 
plays  such  a  game  for  a  prize  he  becomes 
a  gambler.  If  he  plays  an  innocent  game 
for  the  purpose  of  enjoying  the  social  game 
itself,  there  is  an  entirely  different  idea  in 
that.     A  person  who  lives  in  the  enjoyment 


WORK  SHOULD  BE  PLAY  93 

of  what  it  is  a  duty  to  do,  if  it  be  an  honest 
or  honourable  thing,  is  Uving  in  the  Hues  of 
the  intellectual  and  physical  progressiveness, 
that  Christ  has  tried  to  impress  upon  our 
lives.  Covetousness  consists  in  painfully 
laying  up  money  for  the  future.  That  a 
man  should  lay  up  sufficient  to  care  for  his 
family  is  a  duty  impressed  upon  us  by  the 
Bible.  But  he  should  enjoy  the  process  of 
accumulation  more  than  the  idea  of  having 
it  laid  up.  If  you  are  in  business  for  what 
you  can  make  out  of  it  in  the  future  you  are 
unchristian,  ungodly  in  the  sense  expressed 
by  Peter  and  John.  You  should  be  in  busi- 
ness with  a  present  joy  of  doing  that  business, 
for  the  happiness  there  comes  out  of  the 
very  doing  of  it. 

It  is  said  of  Professor  Agassiz,  that  he  was 
asked  to  lecture,  and  was  offered  the  sum  of 
one  thousand  dollars  a  night.  But  Professor 
Agassiz  replied  that  he  "  had  no  time  for 
making  money."  He  was  too  busy.  His 
whole  mind  was  engrossed  in  the  study  of 
the  development  of  evolution  of  life  upon  the 
earth,  of  God  in  nature ;  and  he  had  no  time 
to  give  lectures  for  the  sole  purpose  of  mak- 
ing money.  He  did  have  time  to  lecture, 
but  not  with  the  idea  of  doing  it  for  money, 
and  the  more  he  was  offered  in  the  way  of 


94    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

money  to  lecture  the  less  likely  he  was  to 
go ;  because  he  was  so  single-minded,  so  de- 
voted to  his  God-given  calling,  that  he  could 
not  let  the  thought  of  the  accumulation  of 
money  interfere  with  the  fascinating  study. 
My  attention  was  called  to  a  man  the  other 
day  who  never  knows  when  he  is  awake. 
Many  people  walk  in  their  sleep,  but  they 
know  when  they  are  awake  ;  but  this  man  is 
so  afflicted  with  that  disease — if  it  is  a  disease 
— that  he  asks  friends  to  shake  him  in  order 
that  he  may  be  sure  that  he  is  fit  to  attend  to 
any  business.  He  does  not  know  when  he  is  in 
a  dream,  because  his  dreams  are  as  real  as  his 
actual  life,  and  sometimes  in  a  half  hour,  like 
Dr.  Jekyll  and  Mr.  Hyde,  he  will  transfer  his 
mind  from  the  active,  waking,  business  man 
into  the  dreamy  philosopher.  He  has  a 
friend  to  go  with  him  all  the  time.  If  he  is 
going  to  transact  any  business  this  friend 
shakes  him,  or  in  some  way  startles  him  or 
attracts  his  attention,  that  he  maybe  sure  that 
when  he  buys  a  piece  of  meat  in  the  market 
he  is  sane.  That  man  does  not  know  when  he 
is  awake,  or  when  he  is  asleep,  and  there  are 
Christians  like  that  who  are  always  living  in 
that  uncertain,  dreamy  condition.  They  are 
awake  at  times,  but  they  are  not  certain  that 
they  are. 


WOEK  SHOULD  BE  PLAY  95 

When  you  read  this  story  of  Peter  and 
John,  who  were  arrested,  and  of  how  they 
healed  the  sick  man,  if  you  are  in  the  dreamy 
condition  you  think,  **  Well,  I  do  not  know 
whether  that  is  true  or  not."  Many  people 
read  the  Bible  and  thmk  that  it  is  a  con- 
dition of  life  separate  from  anything  that  is 
practical,  anything  that  is  historical.  You 
hear  about  these  miracles,  you  read  of  these 
saintly  men,  and  they  give  a  kind  of  dreamy 
impression  ;  you  do  not  feel  certain  it  is  true ; 
you  do  not  know  whether  you  are  awake  or 
not,  and  you  need  to  be  shaken  enough  to 
get  out  of  that  condition  into  a  state  of  faith 
where  you  know  that  you  are  awake  and  con- 
sequently believe  and  enjoy.  Now  the  man 
mentioned  is  in  a  continual  worry  lest  he  is 
asleep — and  many  Christians  are  also  in  a 
worry  lest  they  are  asleep.  Awake,  thou  that 
sleepest ! 

No  matter  what  came  to  Peter  or  John,  it 
was  all  the  same  to  them.  If  they  had  shame 
they  were  happy  ;  if  they  suffered  affliction 
they  enjoyed  it,  and  consequently  their  ene- 
mies had  no  power  over  them.  Satan  could 
not  defeat  them,  because  if  Satan  tried  to  in- 
jure them  it  only  made  them  the  more  happy. 
If  anything  will  defeat  the  minions  of  Satan, 
it  is  for  a  Christian  to  be  so  thoroughly  wake- 


96    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

ful  and  trustful  that  when  he  does  suffer  he 
enjoys  even  that,  and  wherever  his  duty 
calls  him  he  is  happy. 

The  apostles  associated  themselves  with 
Jesus  Christ  and  with  each  other,  and  I  believe 
in  association  consists  largely  our  own  ability 
to  enjoy.  They  associated  with  the  good 
and  the  joyful.  This  is  the  duty  of  Chris- 
tians. Seek  strength  and  wisdom  among 
Christian  associations,  among  those  who 
have  this  waking  sanity,  among  those  con- 
fident of  their  faith,  among  those  who  enjoy 
sacrificing  for  Christ,  among  those  who  go 
by  the  Word  and  all  it  directs  and  find  more 
joy  in  doing  their  duty  than  in  any  sport.  To 
get  into  association  with  these  people  and 
secure  their  friendship  is  the  most  important 
movement  on  the  part  of  him  who  would 
make  his  life  more  like  Christ. 

I  do  not  suppose  the  angels  toil,  yet  I 
think  they  work  all  the  time.  It  is  said  that 
God  rested  on  the  seventh  day,  but  that 
does  not  mean  that  He  stopped  creating  on 
the  seventh  day.  It  does  not  mean  that 
He  was  tired.  He  never  gets  tired.  But 
it  means  that  on  the  seventh  day  He  in- 
spected what  He  had  done  and  saw  that  it 
was  good.  He  was  not  weary.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve the  angels  are  ever  weary. 


WOEK  SHOULD  BE  PLAY  97 

An  illustration  of  my  thought  came  to  me 
when  I  had  been  thinking  how  much  more 
I  would  like  to  study  the  Bible  and  meditate 
upon  it.  The  other  day  I  secured  a  spare 
hour,  such  as  I  have  not  had  for  years,  in 
which  to  meditate  upon  the  Scriptures,  and  I 
selected  that  verse  concerning  Peter's  release 
from  prison  and  meditated  upon  it,  and  I 
caught  a  gleam  of  what  there  is  of  joy  in 
store  for  the  students  of  this  Bible.  I  secured 
a  hint  of  what  those  people  enjoy  who  have 
the  time  and  liberty  to  search  into  the  depths 
of  these  wonderful  riches,  to  take  up  their 
treasures  and  examine  them  with  delibera- 
tion. Oh,  that  we  could  study  the  Bible  and 
find  it  no  hardship,  make  the  duty  a  pleasure 
as  we  get  into  the  spirit  of  the  Scripture. 
What  I  saw  in  my  meditation  might  not  be 
historically  correct ;  but  it  illustrates  a  great 
and  divine  truth.  I  shall  not  forget  it  during 
my  life.  It  seemed  to  me  that  I  could  look 
into  a  little  humble  cottage  under  the  trees, 
near  the  garden  and  the  waterfall  on  the 
shore  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  ;  I  could  hear  the 
little  cry  of  a  tiny  child;  I  could  see  the 
Galilean  mother  as  she  nursed  that  child, 
as  she  crooned  to  it  in  the  cradle,  as  she 
carried  it  forth  into  the  garden.  It  seemed 
as  if  I  could  watch  its  growth  from  day  to 


98    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

day,  and  see  the  father,  the  strong  fisherman, 
hurry  up  from  the  nets  on  the  shore  to  that 
little  cottage,  to  take  his  httle  child  and  sing 
to  her  himself,  and  talk  to  her  in  the  Galilean 
language.  It  all  came  to  me  as  if  I  were 
seeing  an  actual  picture  of  life.  I  could 
imagine  the  father  and  mother  with  that  little 
girl,  leading  her  down  to  the  synagogue  at 
Capernaum.  I  could  see  her  as  they  took 
her  back  to  their  home.  I  could  see  them 
as  they  tried  to  teach  her.  I  could  see 
them  as  their  hearts  began  to  develop  more 
and  more  with  the  tenderest  hopes  of  glory. 
I  could  see  the  loving  heartfulness  that  I 
have  not  words  to  tell.  I  could  see  them 
year  by  year  caring  for  her.  I  could  hear 
her  gleeful  laugh.  I  could  see  her  cheerful 
smile.  I  could  see  the  flash  of  her  bright 
eye.  I  could  see  her  running  in  again  and 
again  into  the  old  Galilean  cottage.  I  could 
see  friends  who  looked  over  the  garden 
fence  and  asked,  "  Who  is  it  that  is  laugh- 
ing so  joyfully  ?  " 

I  have  not  the  time  or  the  purpose  now 
to  describe  the  growth  of  such  a  little  girl. 
Years,  years,  developing,  developing,  de- 
veloping. I  could  see  a  time  when  in  the 
night  they  sent  for  the  rabbi ;  they  whispered 
about   the   cottage   and    people   spoke  low 


WOEK  SHOULD  BE  PLAY  99 

as  they  passed  the  gate.  They  said,  "  Little 
Hannah  is  dying."  I  could  feel  the  chill 
and  the  gloom  of  that  home  when  the  par- 
ents of  that  only  child  leaned  over  to  hear 
the  last  rattle  and  to  close  the  eyes  in  death. 
Gone!  She  has  become  an  angel  again. 
From  the  heights  of  heaven,  in  the  glory 
of  an  everlasting  joy,  she  looked  down  upon 
a  disconsolate  home,  deserted.  I  could  see 
why  Peter  could  go  from  his  delightful 
Galilean  home  without  regret.  I  could  un- 
derstand why  his  wife  would  go  with  him 
through  the  desert  down  to  Babylon.  I 
could  see  why  Galilee  lost  its  fascination.  I 
could  understand  why  even  the  sound  of  the 
waterfall  there  made  suggestions  of  sorrow, 
and  the  sight  of  the  old  plum  tree  and  the 
apricot  tree  brought  suggestions  of  childhood 
and  maidenhood,  which  bring  only  grief. 
Yes,  Peter  went  forth,  his  wife  with  him,  to 
wander  up  and  down  the  earth,  and  perhaps 
never  go  back  to  that  old  home  again.  But 
the  little  one  has  become  an  angel,  and  as  I 
meditated  upon  it,  it  seemed  to  grow  into  my 
life  and  experience  as  history  until  I  saw  him 
in  that  prison  in  Jerusalem  contented — there, 
in  darkness,  chill,  alone,  to  be  brought  forth 
to  the  amphitheatre  and  cast  to  the  lions  for 
the  sport  of  the  people.     Yes,  I  could  see  that 


100    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

father  lying  there.  A  heavenly  angel  saw  him 
and  asked  to  be  sent  to  him  in  his  distress. 
I  could  see  a  flash  of  light  in  the  prison.  I 
could  see  the  angel  there.  Peter's  daughter, 
sent  of  God,  an  angel  now,  came  down  to 
her  father's  relief.  She  unlocked  the  chain, 
and  she  smilingly  smote  him  from  sleep  as 
she  did  when  she  was  a  little  girl.  She 
aroused  him  and  gave  him  his  clothes. 
While  he  walked  as  in  a  dream,  she  led  him 
forth.  The  gates  opened  to  her.  When  she 
reached  the  first  square  she  disappeared,  for 
she  was  a  messenger  of  God. 

Thus  the  loved  ones  who  have  gone  before 
us  come  back  to  us  in  days  of  distress  and 
grief,  and  if  Peter  had  not  suffered  in  that 
prison  his  little  child  as  an  angel  would  not 
have  visited  him.  How  wise  the  philosophy 
of  Peter  in  saying  that  he  would  rejoice  in 
any  suffering,  and  how  wise  it  was  is  shown 
by  what  may  have  been  the  fact,  that  the 
loved  daughter  as  a  messenger  of  God  may 
have  returned  to  him  that  night,  and  led  him 
forth  to  his  release.  When  he  finished  this 
lonely  life  and  went  into  the  other  world  he 
found  his  daughter  waiting  joyfully  for  him 
there,  and  saying,  *'  There  is  no  toil  here,  no 
more  hardship  here  ;  because  in  this  heavenly 
land  all  duty  is  joy  and  all  work  is  play." 


VII 

AMUSEMENTS 

"Enter  not  into  the  path  of  the  wicked,  and  go  not  in 
the  way  of  evil  men ;  avoid  it,  pass  not  by  it,  turn  from 
it,  pass  away."      {Prov.  w.  14.-1^.) 

IT  seems  to  me  a  great  measure  of  pre- 
sumption to  speak  upon  the  question  of 
amusements  in  its  relationship  to  the 
Christian  Church,  because  I  cannot  feel  that 
you  care  very  much  for  my  personal  opinion. 
The  Bible  does  not  say  anything  about 
cards.  It  does  not  mention  gambling,  and 
its  references  to  dancing  are  somewhat  in- 
distinct. The  probability  is  that  to  discuss 
this  question  is  to  argue  a  question  of  minor 
importance  from  the  Scriptural  view  of  the 
case.  But  let  me  avoid  speech-making  or 
"sermonizing,"  and  give  the  real,  earnest 
advice  of  a  sincere  friend.  The  Scriptures 
clearly  teach,  and  science  has  confirmed  it 
wonderfully,  that  God  is  rebuilding  on  the 
earth  an  ideal  humanity,  a  perfect  manhood 
and  a  perfect  womanhood.  All  the  teachings 
of  the  Scriptures  and  all  the  influences  of 
Christ's  Spirit  and  all  the  agencies  of  God's 
101 


102    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

laws  in  nature  seem  to  be  combining  for  the 
purpose  of  producing  ultimately  out  of  all  the 
chaos  of  the  present  humanity  one  complete 
type  of  godly  human  beings.  In  the  con- 
struction of  such  an  ideal  nature  we  may 
reasonably  conclude  that  man  will  need  per- 
fect health.  He  will  be  absolutely  cheerful ; 
he  will  be  pure  and  clean  ;  he  will  be  very 
wise  ;  he  will  be  deeply  religious ;  he  will  be 
earnestly  loved  ;  he  will  be  greatly  admired, 
and  he  will  also  be  greatly  feared. 

You  cannot  conceive  of  a  perfect  man 
unless  he  is  healthy  in  body,  of  complete 
contour,  in  accordance  with  the  divine  plan, 
"  made  in  the  image  of  God."  You  cannot 
think  of  him  as  not  being  cheerful.  There  is 
no  complete  human  nature  without  good 
cheer.  Good  cheer  is  the  type  of  the  high- 
est present  Christian  civilization.  You  find 
a  gloomy,  doubtful,  hateful,  disagreeable 
nature,  the  scowls  of  which  are  apparent  upon 
the  face,  and  you  say  that  that  is  not  a  com- 
plete human  nature.  If  you  find  a  person 
unclean,  you  cannot  imagine  that  that  is  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  divine  plan.  If  you  find  a 
person  behaving  very  foolishly,  then  you  feel 
that  insomuch  as  he  is  weak  and  erroneous  he 
falls  short  of  the  ultimate  divine  plan.  And 
if  he  is  irreligious,  if  he  has  not  the  emotions 


AMUSEMENTS  103 

of  a  religious  nature,  if  he  has  not  an  appre- 
ciation of  the  sublime  and  the  great  in  the 
handiwork  of  God,  he  is  insomuch  a  failure 
in  the  completion  of  God's  great  ideal. 

Then,  in  the  development  of  this  life,  which 
is  evidently  intended  for  this  world,  as  well  as 
in  the  redemption  of  souls  for  the  world  to 
come,  we  find  many  evils  and  hindrances. 
Why  they  are  here  I  need  not  now  discuss, 
if  I  knew  enough  to  discuss  it,  which  I 
do  not.  But  among  the  hindrances  which 
prevent  our  development  and  growth  are : 
Disease — disease,  the  result  of  sin  ;  intemper- 
ance in  the  use  of  drink,  bringing  intoxication 
and  all  its  attendant  woes ;  food  eaten  in 
immeasurable  quantities,  food  taken  of  the 
"wrong  character,  food  which  brings  dyspepsia 
and  disarrangement  in  the  human  system. 
Lack  of  sleep  ;  whosoever  does  not  sleep  his 
eight  or  nine  hours  is  insomuch  stunting 
himself  and  preventing  the  development  of 
his  or  her  complete  nature.  Fashion.  One 
of  the  greatest  agencies  for  the  deterioration 
of  the  race,  for  the  bringing  in  of  invalids 
upon  the  earth,  is  the  powerful  laws  of  foolish 
fashion.  Licentiousness.  A  great  evil  com- 
ing in  to  deter  and  destroy  and  to  deform 
humanity.  Selfishness.  A  trait  of  character, 
hindering  the  development  of  the  body,  the 


104    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

growth  of  the  mind,  and  destroying  the  purity 
of  the  soul.  Possessing  this  the  triune  man 
is  incomplete.  One  who  entertains  hatred 
has  it  expressed  in  his  manner,  upon  his  face, 
in  the  light  of  his  eye,  in  the  expression  of 
his  mouth.  One  who  entertains  envy  exhibits 
it  in  almost  every  gesture.  Greed,  untruth- 
fulness and  other  passions  of  humanity  leave 
their  mark  on  the  human  countenance  and 
exhibit  themselves  in  other  relationships  of 
life.  If  a  man  is  really  filled  full  of  this  life 
to  the  extermination  of  hope  of  the  other, 
having  no  religious  aspirations  or  hope,  never 
looking  up  into  the  face  of  God,  never  desir- 
ing heavenly  glories,  he  has  a  stunted  and 
deformed  character,  and  one  which  cannot  be 
completed  until  some  great  change  takes 
place  in  soul,  or  in  mind. 

Now  this  is  stated  only  for  the  sake  of 
pointing  to  the  deep-seated  reason  why  the 
consideration  of  the  question  of  amusements 
is  important.  To  make  perfection  requires 
healthy  exercise  of  mind,  body,  brain  and 
soul,  and  economy  of  power.  Strength  and 
time  are  necessary  for  the  ideal  growth  which 
God  is  striving  to  build  up  in  His  kingdom 
on  the  earih,  and  they  lead  to  the  develop- 
ment of  those  noble  traits  of  character  required 
in  the  ideal  man.     A  man  filled  with  hope  is 


AMUSEMENTS  105 

healthier  and  happier  and  more  successful, 
brings  more  of  heaven  down  to  earth  than 
one  without  hope  and  in  gloom.  To  be 
happy  in  this  life  is  the  highest  thing  attain- 
able ;  to  be  happy  in  the  world  to  come  is  all 
we  are  praying  for,  and  Christ's  great  atone- 
ment was  given  that  we  might  be  happy 
there. 

Avoiding,  then,  a  further  restatement  of 
the  old  questions  of  doctrine,  I  attempt  a 
reasonable  discussion  of  this  great  question  : 
Where  are  young  people  to  draw  the  line 
between  exercise  that  is  healthful  and  exercise 
that  is  injurious ;  between  a  conscientiousness 
that  is  pure  and  divine  and  one  that  is  over- 
morbid  and  insane ;  between  study  that 
secures  wisdom  and  study  that  breaks  the 
mind  ;  between  economy  that  is  careful,  kind 
and  good,  and  economy  that  is  stingy  ;  be- 
tween industry  that  is  the  use  of  reasonable 
powers  and  work  which  is  the  over-use  of  the 
powers,  leading  to  the  destruction,  or  murder, 
of  one's  self.  The  only  safe  course  is  to 
adopt  the  intermediate  condition  between  two 
wicked  extremes,  and  when  the  great  writer 
says,  in  the  wonderful  words  of  Solomon, 
**  Enter  not  into  the  path  of  the  wicked,  go 
not  in  the  way  of  evil  men,"  he  is  simply 
laying  down  the  general  principle  which  the 


106    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHKIST  LIFE 

Bible  continually  lays  down  for  the  control  of 
our  actions  in  life,  viz. :  keep  out  of  bad 
company. 

The  Scriptures  do  not  expressly  teach  that 
you  shall  not  play  cards  ;  they  do  not  teach 
that  you  shall  not  go  to  the  theatre.  The 
teachings  of  the  Scriptures  are  intended  to 
make  a  good  heart,  a  clear  character,  a  clean 
conscience,  trusting  that  the  man  with  a  good 
heart,  a  clear  conscience  and  a  good  character 
will  be  able  always  to  decide  for  himself  what 
things  are  wrong  and  what  things  are  right. 
Hence  the  insistence  on  teaching  Christ  all 
the  time  and  the  Bible  all  the  time,  and 
enforcing  the  great  fundamental  principles  of 
Christianity  and  godliness,  in  order  that 
people  may  never  be  left  in  doubt  as  to 
whether  or  not  a  thing  is  right  or  wrong. 
Young  people  are  much  confused  concerning 
this  question.  They  continually  come  to  the 
pastor  of  the  church  and  say,  "  Now,  do  you 
think  it  would  be  wicked  for  me  to  dance  ?  '* 
The  only  thing  that  one  can  say  under  such 
circumstances  is  to  speak  honestly,  for  dis- 
honesty of  any  kind  is  never  justifiable  in 
God's  house  or  anywhere  else.  I  cannot  find 
any  place  in  the  Bible  where  God  condemns 
dancing.  I  read  in  the  story  of  the  Prodigal 
Son  to-night  that  the  father  welcomed  home 


AMUSEMENTS  107 

the  prodigal  son  with  music  and  dancing  ; 
shall  I  leave  out  that  portion  of  the  Scriptures 
and  say  that  dancing  is  wrong  ? 

Little  children  came  in  yesterday,  seized 
hold  of  hands  and  danced  **  Ring-around-a- 
rosy."  Those  children  were  happy.  This 
world  is  full  of  sorrow,  and  oh,  there  is 
so  much  woe !  I  have  attended  so  many 
funerals  that  I  look  back  through  years  of 
funerals,  and  have  one  or  more  every  day  in 
the  week  to  come — funerals,  sadness,  sorrow 
everywhere.  For  the  Lord's  sake,  let  us  not 
take  out  of  this  world  one  ray  of  light,  one 
hour  of  pure  happiness,  one  season  of  inno- 
cent sport !  If  we  love  the  dear  Lord  as  He 
loves  us,  we  shall  so  love  each  other  that 
we  would  consider  it  wickedness  supreme  to 
interfere  with  innocent  joys  of  childhood. 
A  child  goes  up  and  down  on  the  sidewalk 
in  front  of  my  house  with  a  hoop.  She  is 
jumping  the  hoop.  Of  course,  that  is  dancing. 
There  have  been  times  when  men  believed 
that  was  irreligion.  But  when  we  come  to 
a  faithful  study  of  the  Scriptures  in  order  to 
determine  this  question  we  must  declare  that 
the  Bible  does  not  teach  that  all  dancing  is 
wrong. 

But  it  does  teach,  by  inference  clear  and 
decided,    that  some   kinds   of    dancing  are 


108    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

wrong.  That  brings  me  to  the  text  and  its 
apphcation  :  "  Enter  not  into  the  path  of  the 
wicked,  go  not  in  the  way  of  evil  men,  avoid 
it,  pass  not  by  it,  turn  from  it,  pass  away." 
That  is  the  teaching  of  the  Scriptures.  If 
your  dancing  brings  you  into  association  with 
evil  men,  if  any  dancing  of  yours  produces 
an  evil  effect  upon  your  inclinations,  passions 
and  character,  unbecoming  to  your  growth 
into  the  symmetry  of  God,  then  it  is  wrong 
— not  wrong  because  it  is  dancing,  but  wrong 
because  of  its  association  with  evil  and  with 
evil  men  ;  not  wrong  because  the  Bible  con- 
demns leaping  in  time  to  music,  but  wrong 
because  of  its  being  so  near  to  evil  that  you 
are  encouraging  the  wrong  or  partaking 
somewhat  in  its  condemnation.  Is  this  not 
consistent  ?  In  all  these  things  the  line  is  to 
be  drawn  by  the  individual  conscience.  We 
insist  on  the  quickening  of  the  conscience  and 
then  leaving  to  the  individual  the  question  as 
to  the  kind  of  dancing  and  the  place  of  danc- 
ing. That  is  the  principle  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  but  it  does  not  make  any  difference 
to  you  or  me  whether  it  is  Baptist,  Methodist, 
Presbyterian  or  Catholic — we  want  to  be 
right,  and  to  be  right  we  must  go  to  the  Scrip- 
tures. 

How    shall   we    decide    whether   playing 


AMUSEMENTS  109 

cards  is  wrong-  or  not?  I  was  brought  up  to 
believe  that  it  was  wrong.  Many  people 
come  to  me  and  say,  "  Do  you  believe  in 
progressive  euchre  parties?  You  should 
condemn  them  from  the  pulpit."  But  how 
can  I  explain  something  I  do  not  know  any- 
thing about  ?  I  do  not  know  one  card  from 
another,  so  I  am  in  the  dark.  I  often  see 
people  playing  cards,  and  it  looks  to  me 
like  a  great  waste  of  time,  and  if  that  is  so  it 
is  wickedness.  But  why  should  playing 
cards  be  more  evil  than  playing  checkers,  or 
croquet  or  any  outdoor  game  or  sport? 
You  will  say,  **  It  encourages  gambling." 
Then,  if  it  does  it  is  wrong.  Where  is  the 
line  to  be  drawn  ?  If  cards  encourage  gam- 
bling, as  I  was  always  taught  in  my  youth 
they  did,  then  burn  them  all,  for  the  evil  they 
do  is  more  than  the  good  they  do.  But  do 
they  encourage  gambling?  For  my  part, 
judging  by  excellent  Christian  friends,  I 
should  say  that  innocent  games  of  cards  are 
harmless,  as  a  matter  of  logic  as  well  as  a 
matter  of  fact.  I  could  not  find  it  in  my 
heart,  as  a  servant  of  God,  soon  to  give  an 
account  before  the  great  white  throne,  to 
declare  that  the  Bible  says  that  simple  card- 
playing  is  wrong.  The  subject  of  cards  is 
not   mentioned   in   the   Bible   at   all.     Why 


110    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHKIST  LIFE 

should  they  be  selected  out  of  all  the  devices 
with  which  men  gamble?  A  gambler  will 
gamble  with  almost  anything.  Extreme 
risks  and  seeking  something  for  nothing  are 
wicked.  We  gamble  more  or  less  every  day. 
We  buy  some  goods  this  week  with  the  idea 
of  selling  them  again.  We  know  not  what 
the  price  will  be  after  we  have  bought  them, 
but  we  hold  them  on  speculation.  Yet  we 
say  that  that  is  **  business."  Where  shall  we 
draw  the  line  between  legitimate  and  illegiti- 
mate speculation  ? 

I  once  undertook  to  tell  some  members  of 
the  church  that  I  thought  they  were  doing 
very  wrong  in  wearing  such  low-necked 
dresses.  I  think  so  still.  The  ladies  were 
very  angry  at  the  time,  but  they  since  seem 
to  be  good  friends.  I  told  them  that  im- 
modesty was  un-Christian  ;  that  it  was  wicked- 
ness. But  they  said  to  me,  "  How  shall  we 
decide  just  how  low  to  cut  a  dress  so  that  we 
can  be  certain  whether  or  not  it  is  modest  or 
immodest?"  They  threw  me  into  difficulty, 
for  I  could  not  cut  a  dress,  and  if  I  could,  I 
could  not  decide  a  question  like  that.  Just 
how  high  in  the  neck  it  shall  be,  or  how  low, 
must  be  decided  by  the  modest  conscience  of 
every  individual  woman.  We  all  know  that 
the   extreme  would  be  immodest,  unchaste, 


AMUSEMENTS  111 

unwomanly,  impure  and  un-Christian.  But 
just  where  to  draw  the  line  between  the  good 
and  the  evil  is  the  question  to  be  determined 
by  a  cultivated,  keen  conscience.  Where  the 
line  of  good  leaves  off  and  the  line  of  evil  be- 
gins can  only  be  decided  by  a  very  acute  and 
sensitive  moral  consciousness  ;  and  no  one 
but  the  person  concerned  can  decide  the 
question  for  his  own  individual  guidance. 

We  believe  that  it  is  wrong  to  gamble,  be- 
cause the  whole  tenor  of  the  Scripture  is 
against  that.  But  even  that  question  is  difh- 
cult  to  determine  at  times.  The  policeman 
realizes  that.  He  sees  two  little  boys  play- 
ing marbles  in  the  street,  and  one  boy  wins 
the  marbles  away  from  the  other  boy — gam- 
bling with  marbles.  Now,  shall  the  policeman 
arrest  the  boys  playing  marbles,  or  shall  he 
arrest  the  man  who  invests  in  barrels  of 
potatoes,  with  the  hope  of  selling  them  next 
week  at  an  advance,  yet  not  knowing  what 
the  market  price  will  be,  or  whether  or  not 
the  potatoes  are  sound  ?  Where  is  the  line 
to  be  drawn  ?  Yet  in  either  case  there  has 
been  gambling — in  a  sense.  Away  from  ex- 
tremes each  must  decide  for  himself,  and  to 
decide  correctly  we  must  have  a  standard, 
and  that  standard  is  found  in  the  teachings 
of  Scripture. 


112    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

The  same  is  true  with  reference  to  the 
theatre.  The  theatre  is  not  mentioned  in  the 
Bible.  The  Church  instituted  the  theatre. 
All  the  actors  once  belonged  to  the  Church, 
and  they  were  devoted  priests,  or  ministers, 
or  earnest  Christians,  and  the  theatre  in  that 
day  taught  a  great  deal  of  good.  It  was  a 
forcible  way  of  preaching  the  Gospel,  a  wing 
of  the  Church,  carried  on  for  the  education  of 
the  people  in  religious  truths.  For  my  own 
part,  I  am  personally  opposed  to  some 
theatres,  because  I  believe  the  Scriptures  are 
clearly  opposed  to  the  indecent  exposure 
which  we  find  in  many  of  the  theatres  of  the 
world.  The  Church  has  given  up  the  theatre 
because  to-day  a  great  many  of  the  exhibi- 
tions are  wrong,  and  I  believe  the  theatre  on 
the  whole  does  more  evil  than  good,  and  I 
would  vote  for  its  entire  prohibition.  Whiskey 
may  be  good  to  take  for  a  rattlesnake  bite, 
yet  does  much  evil  when  used  out  of  place. 
So  the  theatre  does  more  harm  than  good. 
You  need  but  to  go  out  on  the  street  and 
look  at  the  bill-boards  to  understand  what 
the  theatre  is.  I  know  it  must  often  be  im- 
modest, and  immodesty  leads  to  licentious- 
ness and  all  kinds  of  wickedness,  to  assas- 
sination, to  murder.  Anything  that  minis- 
ters to  such  base  passions  is  wrong. 


AMUSEMENTS  113 

But  I  cannot  say  that  the  Church  is  against 
any  innocent  forms  of  theatrical  amusement. 
It  is  against  their  association  with  evil,  and 
it  is  against  their  use  for  a  bad  purpose.  We 
are  not  against  mankind.  We  love  man- 
kind ;  yet  many  of  them  are  wicked.  We 
must  be  against  their  wickedness,  but  not 
against  them.  We  want  to  save  the  sinner, 
but  we  hate  his  sin.  So  we  want  to  save  to 
the  world  every  innocent  game,  every  inno- 
cent sport,  every  exhibition  upon  the  stage 
that  is  pure  and  teaches  good  morals,  up- 
rightness and  religion.  We  would  like  to 
save  them  all  to  the  world,  but  we  hate  their 
sin  and  their  association  with  sin.  Hence  : 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  everywhere,  in- 
stead of  coming  do\vn  and  deciding  that  this 
and  that  is  WTong,  where  consciences  may 
difTer,  must  insist  upon  going  back  to  the 
teachings  of  God,  knowing  that  if  the  heart 
is  pure  and  the  soul  is  converted,  there  will 
seldom  be  any  difficulty  with  reference  to 
these  subjects.  Evil  and  good  cannot  re- 
main together  in  the  same  heart.  The  good 
will  drive  out  the  evil,  and  if  a  young  man 
finds  his  association  in  dancing  is  encourag- 
ing him  to  evil  and  bringing  him  into  bad 
company,  and  if  he  loves  Jesus  Christ,  the 
inconsistency  at  once  causes  him  to  separate 


114    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

himself  from  those  companions.  The  same 
is  true  of  the  theatre,  of  cards  or  any  other 
game.  The  great  necessity  is  to  have  Christ 
in  the  heart,  and  then  to  go  nowhere  where 
Christ  would  not  go,  and  approve  of  nothing 
that  Christ  would  condemn ;  be  at  all  times 
against  evil,  and  openly,  decidedly  in  favour 
of  anything  that  is  good,  striving  to  study 
the  Scriptures  until  we  find  out  what  is  good 
and  what  is  wrong,  endeavouring  to  stand  in 
holy  relationship  to  God  and  to  mankind. 


VIII 

THROUGH  THE  COMMANDMENTS 
TO  CHRIST 

**  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God  which  brought  thee  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt  and  out  of  the  house  of  bondage." 
(^Ex.  xxii.  2.) 

THERE  is  nothing  more  inspiring 
towards  good  thoughts  and  right 
living  than  to  have  sweet  memories 
of  the  goodness  of  our  parents,  of  the  Chris- 
tianity in  our  homes  and  the  protection  of 
God  through  a  varied  and  a  dangerous  Hfe. 
I  do  not  suppose  that  the  Lord  has  any- 
better  way  of  instructing  us  than  by  recalHng 
to  our  minds  the  things  that  have  been  done 
for  us  in  the  days  when  we  were  unconscious 
of  danger,  or  when  we  were  utterly  unable 
to  care  for  ourselves.  So  at  the  opening  of 
the  ten  commandments  He  introduces  them 
by  this  condescending,  fatherly,  tender  call 
to  remembrance,  and  says,  *'  I  am  the  Lord 
thy  God.  I  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt  and  out  of  the  house  of  bondage,'^ 
reminding  them  so  lovingly,  divinely  and 
sweetly  that  He  cared  for  them  long  ago,  that 
115 


116    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

He  protected  them  through  the  long  journey, 
and  often  when  they  had  forgotten  Him. 
Thus  He  introduces  the  world-wide,  respected 
ten  commandments. 

"  I  brought  thee  out  of  the  house  of  bond- 
age." He  reminded  them  that  He  had  saved 
their  lives.  Once  a  true  friend  saved  a  friend 
— saved  him  from  a  watery  grave  at  the  risk 
of  his  own  life.  Afterwards  the  saved  man 
rebuked  his  saviour  because  of  the  freedom 
of  the  earnest  advice  which  he  gave.  Then 
said  the  friend,  in  tears,  **I  am  the  same 
friend  now  that  I  was  when  I  went  into  the 
waters  and  offered  my  life  to  save  yours." 
Jesus  Christ  is  continually  saying  that  we 
should  keep  Him  in  memory,  and  that  we 
should  do  this  "  in  memory  of  Him,"  so  that 
I  call  your  attention  to  this  verse  to  destroy, 
if  I  can,  something  of  the  effect  of  the  old 
theological  teachings  about  the  awful  thunder 
and  the  fierce  lightning  and  the  severity  of 
God's  character  in  the  ten  commandments. 
The  Old  Testament  is  as  tender  as  the  New 
Testament.  It  depends  upon  the  spirit  with 
which  we  read  it,  and  the  eyes  from  which 
we  look  upon  it.  The  Old  Testament  is  full 
of  the  love  of  Christ  and  of  the  love  of  God, 
and  the  ten  commandments  are  not  such 
cruel,  hard-hearted,  metallic  utterances  as  has 


THEOUGH  THE  COMMANDMENTS    117 

too  often  been  taught.  God  introduced  them 
by  saying,  **  I  am  the  same  friend  now,  in 
what  I  am  going  to  say,  as  I  was  when  I 
cared  for  you  all  through  the  dangers  of  the 
forty  years  of  the  wilderness."  It  was  kind- 
ness at  Sinai ;  it  was  the  divine  loving,  and 
not  a  stroke  of  lightning,  not  the  crash  of 
thunder,  not  the  crumbling  of  rocks,  not  the 
earthquake  shock,  not  a  dark  cloud,  not 
darkness,  that  we  should  see ;  it  was  the 
same  Christ  that  was  in  Gethsemane,  on  the 
cross  and  in  the  ascension — all  kindness. 

It  was  like  the  kindness  of  that  father  who, 
out  in  Chicago,  took  his  eleven-year-old  boy 
through  the  great  machine  shop,  and  who 
commanded  him  not  to  go  near  the  great 
machinery.  That  command  was  a  greater 
indication  of  the  father's  love  than  the  invi- 
tation to  take  the  boy  to  the  place.  And  on 
Mt.  Sinai  the  Lord  is  saying,  **  This  machin- 
ery of  the  universe  has  been  set  in  motion  ; 
it  has  great  objects.  I  cannot  change  it ;  its 
beltings  must  be  kept  on ;  its  cog-wheels 
must  be  kept  intact,  and  the  steam  must  be 
persistently  forcing  on  the  stars  and  the  un- 
told worlds  and  I  must  not  stop  it ;  but  I 
plead  with  you,  do  not  go  near,  dangerously 
near,  to  the  machinery."  Just  as  the  mother 
pleads  with  her  son  not  to  go  to  the  saloon 


118    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

or  into  bad  company,  so  the  Lord  plead  at 
Sinai  for  the  people  to  obey  these  settled 
rules,  these  eternal  laws,  because  they  would 
be  destroyed  who  do  not  obey. 

He  said  to  them,  *'  Have  no  other  gods  be- 
fore Me."  He  said  that  in  kindness,  not  in 
egotism.  William  Lloyd  Garrison  used  to 
tell  with  a  great  deal  of  interest  about  a  slave 
that  he  met  in  the  Southern  states,  when  he 
went  there  secretly  to  study  the  situation  and 
write  about  it  in  his  magazine.  The  slave 
was  a  very  intelligent  man,  and  he  told  the 
slave  that  if  he  could  escape  and  reach  the 
other  side  of  the  Canada  line  he  would  be 
free,  because  under  the  flag  of  England  there 
could  be  no  slave.  When  he  had  persuaded 
the  black  man  to  undertake  to  obtain  his 
freedom  he  said  to  him,  **  If  you  start,  keep 
your  eye  on  the  north  star.  Study  that  star ; 
see  what  stars  are  near  it ;  look  at  the  Great 
Ursa  Major  ;  look  at  the  great  dipper ;  see 
those  under  stars  pointing  to  the  north  star ; 
then  look  at  the  constellation  on  the  right ; 
you  see  those  stars  like  a  diamond  together ; 
they  point  to  the  north  star.  Now  keep  that 
north  star  in  your  eye.  Be  sure  to  do  that ! 
Many  a  slave  had  been  taken  back  and 
whipped ;  many  a  fugitive  has  suffered  be- 
cause  he   did   not   keep  that  star  in  view ; 


THROUGH  THE  COMMANDMENTS    119 

therefore  if  you  wish  to  be  free,  keep  that  one 
star  in  mind."  So  God  says  to  His  children, 
"  Keep  your  eye  right  on  Me,  on  the  one 
central  star  of  the  universe,  and  keep  your 
footsteps  directed  in  My  way,  not  because  I 
am  hard  and  rude,  coarse  and  brutal,  but  be- 
cause I  am  a  loving,  divine  heavenly  Father 
and  wish  to  see  you  free." 

In  the  next  commandment  God  declared, 
in  the  same  kind  manner,  "  Do  not  make 
any  caricatures  of  good  things ;  do  not  ridi- 
cule your  God ;  do  not  belittle  the  ideals  of 
things  that  are  holy  and  sacred ;  it  will  do 
you  harm  ;  it  will  injure  your  friends ;  it  will 
give  you  a  very  bad  reputation."  A  man 
who  desired  to  come  into  my  employment 
spoke  to  me  concerning  the  work  that  he 
would  undertake  and  the  salary  he  wished  to 
have.  He  was  in  a  barber  shop.  While  I 
was  waiting  he  was  talking  to  the  barber  and 
making  sport  of  men  who  pretended  to  tell 
the  truth.  His  insinuations  were  those  of  a 
man  who  tried  to  keep  the  reputation  of  be- 
ing honest,  but  was  probably  a  hypocrite. 
Neither  you  nor  I  would  want  to  employ 
such  a  person  as  that.  His  character  was 
revealed  by  what  he  ridiculed.  The  Lord 
said  to  His  children,  **  Always  reverence 
things  holy  and  beautiful  and  good.     Do  not 


120    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

make  fun  of  sacred  things,  because  it  influ- 
ences your  own  character ;  it  advertises  your 
bad  character  to  your  friends  and  does  them 
harm.  Was  it  not  the  most  kind  advice  that 
you  can  think  of — "  Thou  shalt  not  make  any 
images  of  Me  and  bow  down  yourself  to 
them — because  the  most  perfect  image  that 
man  could  ever  make  would  be  only  a  cari- 
cature of  the  great,  almighty,  divine,  heavenly 
Father.  So  do  not  make  those  things  in  im- 
itation of  Me."  He  did  not  command  that 
they  should  not  make  any  graven  image  at 
all ;  the  command  was  that  they  should  not 
make  any  graven  image  of  God  to  bow 
down  before  it.  He  did  not  command  that 
they  should  not  make  carvings  and  paintings 
of  created  things  worthy  of  honour  and  re- 
spect, but  they  must  not  try  to  imitate  God 
and  to  pretend  to  bring  His  divinity  down 
to  the  measure  of  their  handiwork.  That 
would  be  ridiculing  God. 

Then  notice  the  great-hearted  kindness  of 
God  in  the  third  commandment,  '*  Thou  shalt 
not  take  My  name  in  vain ;  do  not  use  a 
great  investment  for  little  profit ;  do  not  use 
a  great  good  for  a  little  gain  ;  do  not  put  My 
name  in  association  with  that  which  will  de- 
grade it  and  bring  yourself  to  harm."  The 
Lord's   name  was  like  His   seal.     When   a 


THROUGH  THE  COMMAJSTDMENTS    121 

king  entrusts  his  seal  to  his  prime  minister, 
he  says,  "  Do  not  put  that  seal  on  anything 
but  important  documents."  If  a  man  were 
to  take  that  into  a  saloon  and  put  that  king's 
seal  upon  a  bill  for  his  drinks,  he  would  be 
disgracing  his  king  and  dishonouring  every- 
tliing  in  the  name  of  friendship.  The  third 
commandment  has  that  spiritual  heart  in  it — 
do  not  put  my  name  where  it  will  be  a  dis- 
grace to  me,  and  consequently  a  disgrace  to 
all  who  love  me.  Just  so  a  father,  dying, 
says  to  his  son,  "  Do  not  put  my  name  where 
it  will  ever  be  a  disgrace  to  you ;  carry  my 
name  with  honour."  It  is  excellent  advice, 
and  we  should  plead  with  others  to  observe 
it  and  should  observe  it  ourselves.  Do  not 
use  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain. 

When  at  Germantown  a  mock  company 
of  revellers  ventured  upon  the  disgraceful 
method  of  ridiculing  the  things  of  God  by 
setting  up  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  one  of 
their  number  acting  the  part  of  Christ,  it  was 
a  profane  thing.  It  was  bringing  the  name 
of  Christ  into  a  drunken  revel.  It  is  true 
that  four  weeks  later  the  man  who  acted  the 
part  of  Christ  was  taken  to  an  asylum  and 
has  never  seen  the  light  of  reason  since,  and 
the  man  who  organized  the  afifair  was  found 
dead  in  the  street,  which  looks  like  a  phys- 


122    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHKIST  LIFE 

ical  judgment  upon  them.  Whether  it  was 
a  judgment  or  not  it  illustrates  the  moral 
danger  of  putting  sacred  things  where  God's 
name  will  be  brought  into  disgrace. 

In  the  fourth  commandment  He  said, 
**  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  and  keep  it 
holy."  Remember  it,  why  ?  Why,  in  order 
*'  that  your  days  may  be  long  in  the  land  which 
the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee ;  I  love  thee 
and  wish  thee  peace  and  desire  that  thou 
shalt  rest  one  day  in  seven." 

A  mother  heard  some  boys  at  the  front 
door  one  Sunday  morning  asking  her  boy  to 
go  with  them  on  a  boat  down  the  Delaware 
River.  The  mother  asked  them  not  to  in- 
vite her  son  to  accompany  them,  and  plead 
with  him,  saying,  '*  If  you  do  not  want  to  go 
to  church,  take  the  day  ofT  and  rest,  but  do 
not  disgrace  your  God  and  His  Sabbath  by 
such  sport."  I  was  asked  to  attend  his  fu- 
neral the  following  Thursday,  the  boy  having 
been  drowned  in  the  river.  While  such  phys- 
ical judgment  may  not  follow  all  who  thus 
desecrate  His  holy  name,  it  illustrates  the 
fact  that  something  dreadful  does  follow 
somewhere  every  person  who  breaks  that 
commandment.  Every  man  should  rest  one 
day  in  seven.  The  Lord  wanted  us  to  secure 
that   needed   rest,   and   for  that  reason  He 


THROUGH  THE  COMMANDMEN^TS    123 

commanded  it,  in  loving  regard  for  His  chil- 
dren. 

I  remember  well  how  the  Lord  through 
the  fifth  commandment  touched  the  heart 
of  a  boy  in  this  congregation  one  evening. 
Something  that  was  said  reminded  the  boy 
in  the  balcony  of  his  old  home.  He  thought 
of  the  fifth  commandment — "  Honour  thy 
father  and  thy  mother."  The  boy  began  to 
wish  that  he  had  been  more  kind  to  his  father 
and  mother.  He  had  forgotten  the  kindness 
of  his  father  and  mother  and  the  patience  of 
his  sisters,  and  his  life  was  filled  with  regrets. 
The  Almighty  God,  in  His  tenderness,  like  a 
mother,  bending  over  His  children,  said  to 
them,  "  Do  not  fill  your  souls  with  awful  re- 
grets, having  in  after  years  to  think  that  you 
did  not  honour  your  father  and  your  mother. 
Not  to  honour  father  and  mother  is  to  have 
no  home ;  and  to  have  no  home  is  to  have 
no  heaven  on  this  earth."  *'  Obey  thy 
parents  "  is  the  order  to  children  while  they 
are  children.  As  soon  as  they  cease  to  be 
children  it  changes  to  ''  Honour  thy  father 
and  thy  mother,"  so  live  as  to  be  an  honour 
to  them,  to  make  them  happy,  and  to  make 
them  feel  that  you  will  meet  them  in  heaven 
when  they  shall  pass  hence.  How  kind  all 
this  advice  is ! 


124    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

In  the  sixth  commandment  He  said,  **  Do 
not  commit  murder."  The  word  "kill"  is 
translated  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  Himself, 
and  He  repeats  the  commandment  and 
says,  **  Thou  shalt  do  no  murder."  In  read- 
ing this  week  a  record  of  twenty-one  mur- 
ders committed  by  one  man,  I  thought, 
Where  were  the  teachers  of  his  youth  ?  What 
kind  of  a  home  did  he  have?  He  did  not 
know  where  his  sisters  were  or  where  his 
brothers  were.  That  showed  me  what  lack 
of  a  home  was  back  of  all  the  murder  and 
assassination.  Perhaps  there  was  no  father 
worthy  of  honour,  perhaps  no  mother's  care, 
perhaps  nothing  worthy  of  being  called  a 
home.  But  what  awful  pangs  of  conscience 
must  come  to  such  a  man  as  he  deliberately 
faces  the  gallows,  feeling  that  he  deserves  it. 
Oh,  if  some  one  had  only  plead  with  him 
when  he  was  young  to  obey  his  parents, 
and  to  build  up  his  home  so  that  he  would 
have  a  sweet  remembrance  of  it  in  the  days 
to  come  !  Think  of  the  murderers  through- 
out the  land  ;  see  them  in  the  penitentiaries, 
in  their  narrow,  dark  cells  ;  think  of  the  sor- 
row and  pain  of  it  all.  God  says,  '*  Do  not 
murder ;  do  not  destroy  human  life  ;  it  is  a 
sacred  thing  ;  I  plead  with  you  ;  I  only  let  the 
lightning   flash  and  the  thunder  and  earth- 


THEOUGH  THE  COMMA:^rDMENTS    125 

quake  shock  in  order  that  you  may  not  for- 
get the  kind  advice  of  your  heavenly  Father. 
Do  no  murder."  Oh,  if  some  one  had 
warned  the  great  murderers  who  are  now 
confined  in  their  prisons  or  are  facing  the 
gallows  to-day,  how  different  their  lives 
might  have  been.  The  teachings  of  the  ten 
commandments  are  not  the  teachings  of  a 
great  iron  law  ;  it  is  one  of  exhortation,  that 
we  who  love  God  should  imitate  Him  in 
urging  people  to  keep  the  sixth  command- 
ment. He  that  believeth  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  but  a  follower  and  a  keeper  of  the 
ten  commandments. 

In  the  seventh  commandment  God  said, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery."  Jesus 
Christ  defines  that  by  saying.  Thou  shalt 
not  have  a  state  of  mind,  thou  shalt  not 
have  a  condition  of  soul  that  is  lustful. 
Thou  shalt  love  purely,  thou  shalt  love 
with  a  holy  reverence  for  manhood  and 
womanhood,  for  marriage,  family  and  home. 
Why  ?  "  Because  I  love  thee."  There  is  no 
earthly  joy  superior  to  the  supreme  love  of 
home,  because  there  is  nothing  more  sacred 
in  the  sight  of  God  on  this  earth  than  a  true 
husbandhood  and  pure  wifehood.  In  these 
later  days  it  has  been  considered  unfashion- 
able  for    marriages  to  be  celebrated  in  the 


126    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

churches.  That  arose  because  of  Protestant 
opposition  to  the  Romish  church,  because 
of  the  bitterness  of  sectarian  differences,  and 
we  have  swung  away  from  the  great  sanc- 
tities of  the  church  and  have  carried  our 
weddings  into  the  mayor's  office,  into  a 
balloon,  upon  a  house-top,  into  our  private 
houses,  and  have  put  every  sort  of  con- 
tumely upon  them,  regarding  marriage  as 
a  matter  of  the  merest  business  usage.  And 
consequently  our  law  courts  are  filled  with 
applications  for  divorce,  homes  are  unhappy, 
children  are  made  thieves  and  murderers, 
and  the  land  is  overspread  with  evil,  be- 
cause we  do  not  keep  the  seventh  command- 
ment. ''Thou  canst  love  in  the  divinest 
sense  but  one  woman  ;  thou  canst  love  in  the 
holiest  manner  but  one  man "  ;  and  until 
that  law  is  recognized  man  is  like  the  child 
who  runs  into  the  terrible  machinery  in  dis- 
obedience to  his  father's  command.  "  Thou 
shalt  not "  is  simply  the  most  urgent  plead- 
ing of  the  Almighty  God,  that  children  may 
love  their  parents  and  parents  love  their 
children,  and  that  brothers  and  sisters  may 
be  such  in  reality.  Oh,  friends,  the  heart 
grows  chilly  and  the  soul  is  filled  with  sor- 
row as  it  thinks  of  the  orphans — the  thou- 
sands of  orphans — I    hardly  dare  shock  you 


THROUGH  THE  COMMAIs'DMENTS    127 

with  the  number — that  there  are  in  our  city, 
and  the  greater  number  in  New  York,  and 
the  vastly  greater  number  in  London — of 
orphans  whose  parents  are  not  dead,  of  or- 
phans who  never  wdll  know  who  their  par- 
ents were,  of  orphans  who  have  been  brought 
into  the  world  against  the  law  of  God  and 
man,  who  wall  go  all  through  life  alone, 
motherless,  fatherless,  sisterless  and  brother- 
less,  a  disgrace  to  themselves  and  others, 
and  yet  through  no  fault  of  their  own.  Well 
may  men  and  women  plead  God's  command- 
ment, Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery.  How 
little  of  heaven  men  and  women  know  who 
go  into  such  evil  in  this  world ;  not  in  this 
life  or  the  other  may  they  hope  for  the  grace 
of  God.  Deepest,  sincerest,  everlasting  re- 
pentance seems  to  be  the  only  thing  for  them. 
In  the  eighth  commandment  the  Lord  bends 
over  His  children  in  the  same  tender  manner 
and  says,  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal."  We  are 
told  to  work  six  days  and  rest  the  seventh 
day.  We  sometimes  forget  the  command  to 
work  six  days  and  remember  only  the  part 
referring  to  rest.  If  a  man  works  six  days 
out  of  the  week  he  will  be  glad  to  rest  the 
seventh  day.  Pity  the  millionaire  who  never 
knows  what  a  real  day's  work  is.  And  the 
command  that  we  shall  work  six  days  is  a 


128    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

command  that  we  shall  not  steal  from  God. 
Thou  shalt  not  steal  His  time  ;  thou  shalt  not 
steal  His  one-seventh.  Thou  shalt  not  steal 
from  thy  fellow  man.  Man  owns  nothing  in 
this  world.  When  Abraham  went  out  into 
the  desert  all  was  open  to  whoever  should 
occupy  it.  But  when  Abraham  built  a  well, 
at  great  expense  of  time  and  labour,  then  he 
put  something  of  himself  into  it  and  then  that 
well  and  the  access  to  it  were  his,  by  the  law 
of  God  and  the  consciences  of  men,  and  any 
man  who  should  rob  him  of  that  well  would 
be  breaking  one  of  the  commandments  of 
God. 

In  the  ninth  exhortation  God  said,  "  Do  not 
lie ;  do  not  tell  an  untruth."  The  Lord  would 
say  to  women,  "  Do  not  tell  your  servant  to 
state  at  the  door  that  you  are  not  at  home 
when  you  are  at  home."  He  would  say  to 
salesmen,  '*  Do  not  say  that  wool  is  silk."  If 
He  were  to  bend  over  this  congregation  He 
would  say,  "  Do  not  pretend  to  be  more 
sanctified  than  you  are."  If  He  were  to 
speak  to  the  pulpit  He  would  say,  "  Do  not 
pretend  to  be  more  holy  than  you  would  be 
if  you  were  in  any  other  occupation."  If  He 
were  to  speak  to  those  who  have  the  name  of 
wearing  fine  clothes  He  would  say,  "  Do  not 
lie  by  your  clothes ;  do  not  wear  a  necktie 


THROUGH  THE  COMMANDMENTS    129 

that  is  not  paid  for ;  do  not  advertise  to  the 
world  that  you  own  more  than  you  do."  To 
tell  lies  in  that  way  is  to  put  one's  self  in 
continual  misery.  Nothing  but  the  clear, 
absolute  truth  is  good  for  man  or  woman, 
although  it  is  true  that  there  are  times  when 
it  is  well  not  to  tell  even  the  truth  when 
silence  is  best.  Here  is  shown  the  sweetness 
of  the  Father's  advice.  He  knew  that  we 
would  be  in  continual  trouble  if  we  acted  or 
spoke  falsely.  You  often  wonder  why  life 
has  been  a  failure,  and  why  the  ambitions  of 
life  have  not  been  realized.  But  somewhere 
some  falsehood,  some  act  of  deception,  has 
cursed  your  life  and  made  your  success 
impossible. 

In  the  last  commandment  the  Lord  says, 
"  Oh,  My  beloved,  I  brought  you  out  of 
bondage  and  have  watched  over  you  and 
have  loved  you,  and  I  would  say  unto  you, 
Love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself."  That  is  the 
same  idea  as  expressed  by  Moses  when  he 
wrote,  **  Thou  shalt  not  covet,"  "  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbour  as  thou  lovest  thyself." 
Oh,  how  false  we  have  been  to  teach  that  a 
man  is  compelled  by  this  commandment  to 
surrender  everything  of  himself  for  the  good 
of  other  people.  It  is  not  the  commandment 
of  God.     It  is  a  grand  thing  to  be  a  martyr 


130    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

when  martyrdom  is  called  for,  but  not  to  be 
a  suicide.  The  loving  God  is  just,  perfectly 
just,  and  He  says,  **  Do  unto  others  as  ye 
would  have  them  do  unto  you.  Love  your- 
self as  you  would  have  your  neighbour  love 
you.  Grant  unto  him  all  things  that  you  ask 
for  yourself,  and  demand  for  yourself  all 
things  that  you  grant  unto  him."  That  is 
the  great,  universal  law  of  equity.  To  do 
more  than  that  is  beautiful,  and  there  are 
times  when  it  is  commanded  that  we  should 
do  more,  but  here  is  laid  down  the  great 
common  law  that  we  should  do  unto  our 
neighbour  as  we  would  ask  that  he  should 
do  unto  us.  What  common  sense  there 
is  in  that  commandment !  If  we  love  our 
neighbours  as  we  love  ourselves  there  will 
be  universal  peace,  there  will  be  no  more 
wars,  no  more  quarrellings,  no  more  gossip- 
ings,  no  more  lyings.  Life  will  be  a  life  of 
peace  and  love  and  sweetness  inexpressible. 
The  Lord  was  kind  in  giving  us  these  com- 
mandments and  we  should  get  out  of  our 
minds  the  idea  that  they  are  to  be  regarded 
as  harsh,  hard  and  cruel,  given  by  an  un- 
reasoning God.  They  are  just  as  kind  as 
the  beatitudes  and  just  as  sweet  as  the  Lord's 
Prayer. 


IX 

NOT  WEARY  OF  WELL-DOING 

**  Be  not  weary  in  well-doing."     (2  Thess.  in,  ij.) 

I  KNOW  of  no  time  when  a  man  becomes 
more  conscious  of  sin,  more  fully  appre- 
ciative of  his  own  weakness,  than  when, 
as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  he  is  compelled 
to  go  before  a  waiting  people  and  advocate 
an  ideal  far  above  his  own  Hving,  and  pre- 
sent a  rule  of  truth  that  he  does  not  seem 
capable  of  reaching.  I  suppose  there  are  no 
five  or  six  words  in  the  whole  Bible  that  have 
more  of  wisdom  or  are  more  comprehensive 
in  their  gospel  meaning  than  these  words, 
*'  Be  not  weary  in  well-doing." 

I  usually  carry  in  my  pocket  my  Greek 
New  Testament,  and  had  occasion  recently 
to  look  at  this  third  chapter  of  second  Thessa- 
lonians.  When  I  came  to  this  old  text,  "  Be 
not  weary  in  well-doing,"  I  concluded  I 
knew  all  about  it.  I  did  not,  of  course,  come 
to  the  deliberate  decision  that  I  understood 
all  that  God  meant  when  He  inspired  the 
apostle  to  speak  those  words.  But  I  thought 
it  had  been  talked  about  so  much  that  I  knew 
131 


132    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

all  I  needed  to  know  about  those  words. 
But,  incidentally,  finding  the  same  Greek 
word  in  four  other  places  in  the  chapter,  I 
looked  back  to  ascertain  just  its  meaning 
in  this  verse.  When  I  meditated  upon  the 
word  translated  "  well-doing  "  I  found  that  I 
had  not  known  the  Gospel.  I  had  heard  it 
too  often  to  appreciate  it.  I  felt  exceedingly- 
guilty,  for  the  text  itself  upbraided  me  for 
lack  of  well-doing  in  my  previous  study  of 
its  meaning.  This  is  a  wonderful  saying, 
this  condensation  of  truth,  this  flashing  dia- 
mond of  beauty,  so  wonderfully  filled  with 
the  meaning  that  only  God  can  put  into  so 
few  words. 

"  Be  not  weary  in  well-doing."  It  has  two 
different  meanings  that  are  quite  distinct  and 
yet  are  twins.  The  first  meaning  is  the  one 
we  hear  about  in  our  usual  conversation : 
"  Be  not  weary  in  doing  good  deeds."  Now, 
God  is  not  a  bank  ;  Christ  is  not  a  savings 
fund  institution,  a  place  where  you  can  go 
and  draw  out  your  funds  and  then  spend 
them  for  something  else.  God  is  not  a  mere 
furnisher  to  the  world  of  blessings  to  be  used 
for  our  own  selfish  advantage. 

We  are  not  to  go  to  God  in  prayer  and  ask 
for  money,  for  family,  for  children,  for  home 
and  for  prosperity,  and  get  it  from  Him  to 


NOT  WEAEY  OF  WELL-DOING     133 

spend  in  some  other  way.  God  is  the  begin- 
ning and  the  end.  He  furnishes  and  He  re- 
ceives. God  gives,  God  takes  away.  In  the 
great  circle  of  Christian  experience,  God  is 
found  all  the  way  around  ;  and  yet  there  are 
many  people  who  think  God  exists  only  for 
the  purpose  of  furnishing  them  with  some- 
thing with  which  they  can  be  happy  in  this 
world. 

The  decision  reached  by  the  apostle,  and 
which  he  put  into  these  few  words,  is  mar- 
vellously practical,  and  yet  it  seems  to  me, 
with  our  state  of  life  and  environment,  so  un- 
reachable, that  while  I  admire  I  yet  stand  in 
awe.  Do  not  get  weary  in  doing  good  acts. 
Do  not  get  strength  of  God  for  a  little  while, 
and  then  abandon  the  things  that  you  ought 
to  do.  Do  not  be  weary  of  doing  good 
deeds.  This  is  the  ordinary  understanding 
of  the  text,  and  it  is  an  excellent  one,  too. 
It  is  a  true  one. 

It  is  a  good  thing  to  be  honest ;  never  get 
tired  of  being  honest.  In  this  world  you 
will  find  a  great  many  dishonest  people,  who 
seem  to  prosper,  and  you  will  say  that  a  lie 
is  as  good  as  the  truth,  and  a  state  of  false- 
hood is  as  good  as  living  openly  and  hon- 
estly. But  the  teaching  and  advice  of  this 
condensed  saying  is.  Be  not  weary  of  being 


134    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

honest.  Though  all  other  men  be  dishonest, 
though  all  seem  to  succeed  who  appear  to 
be  dishonest,  don't  you  get  weary  of  being 
true.  The  commandments  of  God  present 
all  the  good  things  of  life ;  never  be  weary 
of  following  them. 

Never  get  weary  of  being  industrious. 
You  may  see  a  man  succeed  as  a  beggar, 
you  may  hear  of  men  robbing  the  trolley 
company  and  getting  away  with  the  money, 
you  may  hear  of  other  villains'  success.  But 
don't  you  get  weary  of  honestly  earning 
your  own  living. 

Don't  get  weary  of  doing  a  thing  that  is 
right,  or  doing  a  thing  that  is  good.  You 
may  have  extended  your  hand  in  kindness 
and  the  beast  of  a  man  who  received  your 
administrations  may  have  bitten  your  hand, 
yet  don't  get  weary  of  doing  good. 

Don't  get  weary  of  loving.  Those  you 
love  may  misinterpret  you,  those  you  love 
may  forsake  you,  but  don't  you  get  weary  of 
loving. 

Don't  get  weary  of  prayer.  You  are 
taught  to  pray,  and  sometimes  you  feel  that 
you  are  falling  into  formalities,  and  that  your 
prayer  does  not  go  above  your  head ;  and 
yet  the  advice  of  God,  so  excellent,  so  sound 
in   sense,    says,    "  Don't   get   weary ;    make 


NOT  WEAEY  OF  WELL-DOIKG      135 

your  prayer  afresh."  Arouse  some  new  en- 
thusiasm, pray  for  some  new  thought,  arise 
again  to  your  first  love,  and  pray  as  you  did 
the  first  time.  Renew  again  your  first 
prayer. 

Don't  get  weary  of  going  to  church. 
There  is  a  great  duty,  a  great  principle,  in- 
volved in  it.  It  is  not  a  question  whether 
you  go  or  not ;  it  is  a  question  of  whether 
you  are  weary  of  going  or  not.  You  may 
say  the  sermons  are  uninteresting,  the  hymns 
are  the  same,  that  you  do  not  like  to  sing 
them  so  often.  You  may  say,  "  I  meet  the 
same  people  and  I  go  out  the  same  way,  and 
I  do  not  see  that  I  am  any  better  this  week 
than  I  was  last."  If  those  temptations  come 
into  your  life,  God  says  wisely,  **  Be  not 
weary  of  assembling  yourselves  together  in 
the  church.  Do  not  allow  yourselves  to  get 
tired  of  it." 

Do  not  be  weary  of  giving.  You  have 
given,  and  you  will  be  asked  to  give  again. 
The  man  who  gives  once  is  certain  to  be 
asked  to  give  again ;  and  the  man  who  gives 
the  most  is  sure  to  be  asked  to  give  more. 
But  do  not  get  weary  of  giving,  because  the 
good  of  giving  consists  not  in  the  name  of 
it — not  in  the  fact  that  one  has  given — but 
in  the  ability   and  di-^position  still  to   give. 


136    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

Don't  say,  "  I  gave  a  hundred  dollars  the 
other  day,  and  I  ought  not  to  give  any 
more."  Don't  say,  '*  I  gave  at  a  great  sacri- 
fice once,  and  I  am  weary  of  doing.  I  don't 
see  that  I  have  gotten  any  credit  for  it.  I 
am  not  going  to  give  again." 

These  temptations  come  into  your  life. 
But  God  says,  "  Be  not  weary  of  giving." 

Oh,  the  contrast  between  Paul  and  Felix 
on  that  day  in  the  great  hall  of  justice  at 
Caesarea,  when,  simply  attired  and  weak,  the 
apostle  appeared  before  Felix,  the  august 
judge  of  the  Roman  empire.  One  a  pris- 
oner in  chains ;  the  other  the  governor  of  a 
nation,  appointed  so  by  the  Romans.  One 
the  judge  of  all  the  people,  whose  will  was 
law ;  the  other  but  the  obedient  servant  of 
the  soldiers  who  led  him  around  with  the 
clanking  links  of  his  Roman  bonds.  I  would 
rather  be  Paul  than  Felix. 

Paul  could  stand  up  and  say,  "  I  have  lived 
in  all  good  conscience  unto  this  day.  I  am 
not  weary  of  serving  my  God.  My  nation 
has  repudiated  me ;  my  friends  refuse  to 
speak  to  me ;  my  home  is  shut  against  me, 
none  of  my  old  acquaintances  love  me  ;  they 
have  persecuted  me  ;  they  have  arrested  me, 
and  they  have  organized  to  assassinate  me. 
Here  I  am  in  chains  now,  and  knowing  not 


NOT  WEAKY  OF  WELL-DOING      137 

what  is  to  befall  me  ;  but  I  am  not  weary  of 
the  service  of  God.  I  am  fighting  the  good 
fight  and  I  will  fight  it  to  the  end."  I  would 
rather  be  Paul  in  that  unwearied  condition  of 
mind  than  to  be  the  trembling,  conscience- 
stricken  Felix,  on  that  throne  as  a  judge. 

Be  not  weary  in  holiness  of  character,  in 
trying  to  be  more  and  more  like  Christ.  "  Be 
not  weary  in  well-trying,  in  well-undertak- 
ing, in  well-praying,  in  well-striving,  towards 
the  pattern  which  Christ  has  set."  That  is 
the  usual  interpretation  of  this  Scripture. 

But  when  I  came  to  the  original  language 
I  found  it  meant  something  that  in  all  my 
study  I  had  never  comprehended  before.  It 
not  only  means,  "  Be  not  weary  in  doing 
things  that  are  right  and  good,"  but  it  also 
means,  "  Be  not  weary  in  doing  well  what- 
ever you  do."  Be  not  weary  in  well  doing 
the  things  you  have  to  do.  Be  not  weary  in 
performing  correcdy  and  safely  and  carefully 
anything  that  is  committed  to  your  charge. 
Oh,  then  the  field  opened,  the  horizon  en- 
larged ;  then  the  stars  shone  brighter  as  the 
text  opened  out  into  my  view.  Here  is  God's 
truth  ;  here  is  the  whole  sweep  of  the  Gospel 
from  Sinai  to  the  judgment.  "  Be  not  weary 
in  doing  well  the  things  you  have  to  do." 

Some  years  ago  I  went  down  where  they 


138    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

were  building  a  bridge  among  the  mountains, 
and  they  had  put  in  the  stone  for  the  abut- 
ment, and  the  contractor,  who  was  placing 
an  immense  stone  as  a  foundation  corner  for 
the  abutment  for  the  bridge,  found  it  about 
an  inch  out  of  the  line.  The  workmen  said 
to  him,  "  That  will  do,  it  is  near  enough  ;  it 
will  be  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  move  it.  It 
will  hold  the  bridge  all  right."  But  the  man 
looked  at  it  and  said,  **  I  wish  it  were  in  the 
exact  place  where  it  ought  to  be.  I  would 
feel  better  about  it ;  yet  I  think  we  will  let  it 
remain."  After  dinner,  he  came  back  and 
looked  at  it  again.  He  was  dissatisfied.  It 
was  not  just  where  it  ought  to  be.  It  was 
not  on  the  line,  and  after  a  time,  though  he 
knew  it  would  be  a  matter  of  considerable 
expense  and  take  most  of  the  afternoon,  he 
started  the  machinery  and  lifted  the  enor- 
mous stone  and  set  it  again  exactly  on  the 
line.  When  it  was  let  down  in  place  the  man 
drew  a  long  breath  of  satisfaction  and  said, 
"  There,  that  is  good  for  a  thousand  years  I  " 
When  the  apostle  taught  us  these  things 
in  this  Scripture,  he  taught  the  sentiment  of 
that  man's  heart.  You  and  I  might  have 
been  there  for  our  day's  wages,  and  after  re- 
ceiving our  dollar  and  a  half  we  might  not 
care  whether  the  stone  was  one  inch  out  of 


NOT  WEAEY  OF  WELL-DOING      139 

the  way  or  not.  It  would  not  have  made 
any  difference  to  us.  It  was  near  enough. 
"  Well  enough "  has  cursed  the  world. 
"  Well  enough  "  has  cursed  souls.  "  Well 
enough"  has  overthrown  business  enter- 
prises. **Well  enough"  has  destroyed  na- 
tions.    "  Well  enough  "  has  filled  hell. 

Oh,  no,  you  and  I  might  have  said,  "  That 
is  well  enough,"  and  taken  our  money.  That 
contractor  would  have  received  more  pay  if 
he  had  left  it  in  the  first  place.  But  he  would 
not  have  had  the  satisfaction  of  soul.  That 
was  worth  more  to  him  than  money.  It  was 
finally  right.  It  was  settled  **  for  a  thousand 
years."  *'The  consciousness  that  it  was 
right,  that  it  was  exact,  was  a  comfort  to  his 
soul  which  money  might  not  be  able  to  pur- 
chase. 

You  will  be  tempted  often,  friend,  to  do 
things  slightingly,  to  say  "  that  is  well 
enough "  ;  not  exactly  right,  but  **  well 
enough."  But  these  Scriptures  teach  that 
we  are  not  to  be  weary  in  attempting  to  do 
everything  exactly  as  it  ought  to  be  done. 

We  shall  be  tempted  to  skimp  our  work. 
An  illustration  of  this  was  written  by  one  of 
our  philanthropists  in  Boston  concerning  the 
sweat  shops.  These  sweat  shops  consisted  of 
little  attics,  illy  heated  and  illy  ventilated,  into 


140    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

which  were  gathered  many  very  poor  young 
women.  They  were  paid  such  wages  that 
they  could  scarcely  clothe  themselves  or  get 
sufficient  food.  Such  places  exist  to-day, 
among  the  most  hideous  places  of  the  world. 
If  there  is  any  kind  of  murder  that  deserves 
the  gallows  direct,  it  is  the  murder  of  young 
women  through  the  sweat-shop  system. 
One  young  woman  who  was  in  one  of  those 
attics  received  just  the  same  pay  as  others, 
but  every  garment  she  made  she  finished 
thoroughly.  Because  she  was  faithful  she 
earned  not  so  much  in  the  aggregate  as  the 
others,  being  paid  by  the  piece.  But  she 
had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  the 
person  who  wore  the  garments  she  made 
would  wear  those  that  were  "  well  made.'' 

Though  she  was  poor,  though  she  was  de- 
prived of  opportunity  to  earn  a  comfortable 
living,  though  she  was  strongly  tempted  to 
slight  her  work,  though  no  one  on  earth 
would  seem  to  be  able  to  discover  that  she 
neglected  any  part  of  it,  yet  that  girl  did  her 
work  thoroughly  and  well. 

A  customer  of  the  store  secured  a  garment 
made  by  this  woman.  He  was  the  inventor 
of  a  sewing-machine.  He  endeavoured  to 
make  a  garment  like  these.  He  purchased 
the  cheap  clothes  for  the  purpose  of  ripping 


NOT  WEAEY  OF  WELL-DOIXG     141 

them  up  and  resewing  them.  When  this 
garment  came  into  his  hands  he  found  it  was 
so  carefully  done,  every  stitch  in  its  place, 
everything  fully  secured  that  he  said,  '*  That 
is  wonderfully  nice  work  to  come  from  a 
sweat  shop." 

Going  to  the  proprietor,  he  asked  :  "  How 
much  do  you  pay  for  a  garment  done  like 
that?"  Then  he  said  to  the  owner :  *'  It  is  not 
possible  to  do  work  like  that  so  thoroughly,  so 
completely,  so  carefully,  for  the  money  you 
paid."  The  proprietor  boasted  that  it  could 
be  done,  and  that  it  was  done  in  his  shop.  It 
raised  a  dispute.  The  man  did  not  believe 
it  was  done  in  the  shop,  and  the  proprietor 
claimed  that  it  was.  They  made  an  investi- 
gation, and  they  found  out  who  did  the  work. 
They  also  found  that  all  the  work  she  did 
was  done  in  the  same  careful  way.  She  was 
afterwards  taken  into  the  store.  The  sweat 
shops  were  abolished  in  Boston  by  the  agita- 
tion there,  and  that  woman  herself  was  the 
very  first  to  give  money  to  help  Jennie  Col- 
lins in  her  work  for  the  suffering  shop  women 
of  the  city  of  Boston.  She  did  her  work  thor- 
oughly. She  did  it  well  for  the  joy  of  \ioing 
well.  She  was  not  weary  in  doing  well, 
though  the  temptation  would  seem  to  have 
been  extreme  to  do  her  work  slightingly. 


142    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

Men  should  not  be  weary  in  endeavouring 
to  secure  more  accurate  knowledge.  We 
cannot  fully  know  the  truth.  God  is  truth. 
Only  the  infinite  can  know  everything,  but 
we  should  study  to  know  more  and  to  be 
more  and  more  accurate,  to  be  near  the  light 
of  perfect  truth. 

That  was  the  characteristic  of  young  Agas- 
siz,  when  he  was  a  student.  If  he  had  work 
assigned  to  him  examining  the  forms  of  prim- 
itive life — the  toe  of  the  frog,  the  eye  of  the 
cat — he  scrutinized  them  each  with  an  accu- 
racy that  surprised  his  fellow  students.  He 
never  seemed  to  be  satisfied,  never  weary  in 
striving  to  know  more.  He  would  come  into 
the  class  and  recite  and  tell  what  he  then  knew 
about  the  natural  history  of  certain  forms  of 
animals,  and  he  knew  well,  but  he  was  not 
weary  in  doing  better. 

Nothing  is  well  done  that  is  not  just  as 
well  as  it  can  be  done.  Nothing  short  of 
perfection  is  well  done  if  perfection  can  be 
reached.  Only  the  very  best  work  the 
worker  can  turn  out  is  ever  to  be  considered 
well  done.  That  was  the  motto  of  Professor 
Agassiz  himself.  He  pursued  that  until, 
teaching  the  students  in  Harvard  College,  he 
was  among  the  leading  minds  of  the  earth. 
This  characteristic,  of  doing  thoroughly  and 


NOT  WEAEY  OF  WELL-DOING      143 

well  the  thing  he  had  in  hand,  and  being  not 
weary  in  striving  to  do  it  better,  make  Agas- 
siz'  name  one  of  the  greatest  names  of  earth. 

Bougereau  painted  many  beautiful  paint- 
ings. But  he  destroyed  many.  He  was  not 
satisfied  with  them.  They  were  often  com- 
pleted and  were  the  admiration  of  his  friends. 
Amateurs  in  painting  considered  them  mar- 
vels of  art.  But  he  saw  they  were  not  right. 
He  saw  that  the  hand  was  too  long,  an  eye 
was  in  the  wrong  relation,  or  the  hair  not 
fully  suited  to  the  person  or  place.  After  the 
picture  was  done  he  would  rub  it  all  off  and 
begin  again,  being  not  weary  in  well-doing, 
because  he  loved  his  art  and  laboured  for  art, 
not  for  money.  The  apostle  means  in  this 
text,  **  Work  for  art,  not  for  money ;  work 
for  perfection  and  satisfaction  of  one's  soul, 
not  merely  for  pay."  Truth  for  truth's  sake 
would  have  been  Bougereau's  expression,  if 
you  had  asked  him  concerning  his  painting. 

We  should  write  not  for  the  purpose  of 
getting  so  much  a  line.  We  talk  about  the 
*'  penny-a-liner "  in  the  newspapers  and  we 
speak  of  him  with  contempt.  There  is  noth- 
ing more  contemptible  than  the  man  who  sim- 
ply spends  his  time  in  writing  for  so  much  a 
line.  An  interesting  story  is  told  of  a  mod- 
ern writer  who  is  now  one  of  the  editors  of 


144    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

Harper' s.  It  is  only  a  few  years  since  he 
wrote  a  story,  and  the  Harpers,  for  some 
reason  or  other,  pubhshed  it.  It  was  the 
laughing  stock  of  the  world.  People  said, 
**  If  Harpers  are  going  to  publish  things  like 
that,  they  will  soon  go  down."  But  they 
were  wise  enough  to  see  in  that  man  an 
unquenchably  divine  ambition  in  life.  He 
would  do  thoroughly  what  he  did  do  ;  and  if 
he  did  a  thing  to-day,  he  would  do  it  better 
to-morrow. 

Now  he  is  the  leading  man  of  all  the  liter- 
ary men  of  this  country.  He  worked  for  per- 
fection, for  the  love  of  writing ;  he  desired  to 
use  the  best  words  possible.  If  he  found 
that  an  adjective  was  not  sufficiently  express- 
ive, he  would  substitute  another,  and  his 
manuscript  is  said  to  have  been  so  written 
and  rewritten  and  revised  and  re-revised  as 
to  be  the  despair  of  the  printers  to  whom  he 
sent  his  writings.  He  desired  perfection,  not 
simply  the  money  he  was  to  get  for  the  writ- 
ing.    Be  not  weary  in  doing  a  thing  well. 

Be  not  weary  in  being  beautiful.  It  is 
right  to  be  beautiful.  God  intended  woman 
should  be  lovely  in  form,  in  mind,  in  life,  and 
in  character.  It  is  a  duty  to  be  so.  The 
two  different  expressions  of  this  text  are 
shown  here.     Some  wise  women  go  to  the 


NOT  WEAEY  OF  WELL-DOING      145 

gymnasium  and  practice  carefully  certain 
physical  exercises.  Many  a  woman  has  by 
her  own  determination  obtained  a  physique 
that  was  beautiful  through  persistent  physical 
exercises,  and  has  reached  real  beauty,  while 
others  have  padded  themselves  as  shams. 

This  text  condemns  this  position :  no  per- 
son should  be  satisfied  with  the  sham. 

The  woman  who  desires  to  be  most  perfect 
must  first  have  a  perfect  ideal,  and  strive 
towards  that  ideal.  True  womanhood  is 
real! 

One  day  at  a  hospital  a  woman  was 
brought  in  decked  with  diamonds,  clothed 
with  a  very  expensive  hat,  and  very  costly 
shoes  from  a  fashionable  establishment.  But 
otherwise  she  was  dressed  in  rags  and  filth. 
When  the  hospital  nurses  saw  the  contrast 
they  said,  **  What  a  false,  barren,  filthy  heart 
this  woman  must  have  to  be  such  an  utter 
sham ;  to  appear  outside  as  a  whitened  sep- 
ulchre and  within  full  of  dead  men's  bones." 
Everything  was  suggestive  of  wickedness,  of 
internal  heart  rottenness.  This  text  teaches 
us  not  to  be  weary  in  doing  well,  though  no 
one  else  but  ourselves  shall  see  the  work, 
though  no  one  else  but  ourselves  shall  enjoy 
it ;  we  are  to  do  things  well  for  the  love  of 
well  doing. 


146    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

We  should  read,  we  should  know  and 
teach.  But  that  is  not  enough.  This  text 
goes  farther  and  says  we  must  read  well. 
Webster's  experience  with  the  books  of  Mil- 
ton is  instructive.  He  secured  Milton's  "  Par- 
adise Lost"  and  ''Paradise  Regained."  He 
read  them  through.  He  said  to  a  friend  that 
he  did  not  think  they  were  interesting.  His 
friend  said,  "Webster,  you  have  not  really 
read  Milton  if  you  talk  that  way  about  him. 
You  have  not  understood  him.  I  advise  you 
to  take  that  book  and  read  it  again,  and  take 
at  least  three  weeks  to  it  instead  of  one  day, 
as  you  did  before."  Webster  took  Milton 
and  read  "  Paradise  Lost,"  line  by  line,  until 
he  came  to  that  sublime  passage : 

"  Hail,  holy  light,  offspring  of  heaven 

First-born  !     Or  of  the  eternal  co-eternal  beam 

May  I  express  thee  unblamed  ? 

Since  God  is  light,  and  never  but  in  unap- 
proached  light 

Dwelt  from  eternity : 

Dwelt  then  in  thee,  bright  effluence  of  bright- 
essence  increate  !  " 

When  he  appreciated  that  fully  and  when  the 
sublimity  of  the  language  flashed  upon  him, 
he  took  the  poem  and  hastened  around  to 
his  friend's  house  with  a  book  still  open  in 
his  hand,  and  said  to  his  friend,  "  I  thank 
you  !     I  have  found  so  much  in  this  book  I 


NOT  WEAKY  OF  WELL-DOING      117 

did  not  dream  was  there  !  "  He  took  three 
weeks  to  read  Milton.  Then  he  knew  it,  as 
he  read  it  "  well."  He  read  it  thoroughly, 
he  reread  it,  until  he  comprehended  it.  He 
was  not  weary  in  doing  it  well.  Oh,  to  read 
a  book  well !  How  many  read  as  a  half 
sham !  I  read  this  Bible  in  the  same  way. 
I  have  read  it  to  you  often :  *'  Be  not  weary 
in  well-doing."  Month  after  month  and  year 
after  year  I  have  repeated  it,  and  only  within 
a  day  or  two  did  I  understand  so  much  of  it. 
I  stopped  short  of  doing  it  well.  It  is  better 
to  do  a  small  thing  well  than  to  half  do  a 
large  thing. 

How  often  singers  do  that.  It  is  better  to 
leap  over  a  hurdle  and  get  over  than  to  at- 
tempt to  jump  over  the  moon  and  fall  in  the 
mud. 

How  many  a  cultivated  singer,  who  is  ex- 
cellently fitted  for  concert  work,  or  well 
trained  for  religious  song,  will  strive  to  some 
operatic  height  that  is  so  far  beyond  her 
reach  that  her  voice  turns  to  the  scream  of 
the  eagle  before  she  has  reached  the  highest 
notes.  The  foolish  thing  thinks  she  is  gain- 
ing favour  for  herself  in  the  world  to  strive 
for  that  unreachable  height.  Yet  how  true 
it  is  that  one  had  better  do  a  small  thing 
well  than  to  try  to  do  a  larger  thing  and  fail. 


148    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

So  it  is  with  the  church  service.  We  ought 
to  do  it  well.  Now  there  is  a  way  of  doing 
a  church  service  well.  You  may  say  that  it 
depends  upon  the  preacher  or  the  music. 
No,  it  depends  upon  the  hearer.  If  you  are 
listening  well  you  cannot  hear  the  Bible  read 
without  some  benefit  coming  to  your  soul. 
Each  church  service  should  be  an  improve- 
ment on  the  previous  one.  Attending  a 
church  service  is  not  for  naught ;  it  is  not  for 
foolishness ;  it  is  not  for  mere  form ;  it  is  in- 
tended to  secure  growth  in  grace.  He  who 
does  the  very  best  he  possibly  can  with  it, 
uses  every  kind  of  opportunity  and  influence 
in  it,  will  be  blessed  for  attending  the  serv- 
ice. 

So  it  is  in  being  a  Christian.  Do  not  be 
satisfied  with  having  the  name  of  a  Chris- 
tian, or  having  your  name  on  the  church  roll. 
Don't  be  satisfied  with  that.  Know  in  your 
very  soul  that  you  are  saved.  Know  that 
God's  salvation,  through  Christ,  has  been 
applied  to  your  heart.  Be  real,  be  sincere, 
be  not  weary  in  striving  to  get  nearer  to  God, 
nearer  and  nearer,  having  His  service  more 
surely  at  heart.  I  have  said  already  what  I 
would  like  to  emphasize  strongly,  that  any- 
where short  of  the  very  best  is  not  well  done. 
That  is  true  of  salvation.     If  it  is  possible  for 


NOT  WEAEY  OF  WELL-DOING      149 

you  to  do  anything  better  than  you  now  do 
it,  it  is  not  well  done,  and  the  omission  be- 
comes a  sin. 

Are  you  doing  your  work  as  well  as  it  can 
be  done,  living  in  your  home  as  well  as  you 
can,  doing  by  those  you  love  as  well  as  you 
might?  Are  you  as  industrious  as  you  might 
be,  as  saving  as  you  might  be,  as  generous 
as  you  might  be,  as  merciful  as  you  ought  to 
be  ?  Have  you  left  undone  many  things 
you  might  have  done,  and  only  half-done 
many  things  which  might  have  been  wholly 
done  ?  If  so  you  are  a  sinner  before  God. 
Get  down  and  confess  it.  Get  down  and 
promise  God  that  you  will  not  weary  in  doing 
well  whatever  you  have  to  do. 

There  was  a  young  boy  in  New  York  who 
wrapped  the  goods  in  the  store,  and  because 
he  wrapped  them  so  carefully  and  tied  them 
with  such  nicety  the  customers'  attention  was 
called  to  the  artistic  manner  in  which  it  was 
done.  He  was  finally  called  to  a  better  po- 
sition, and  then  into  partnership,  and  he  be- 
came a  great  benefactor  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  He  could  give  his  millions  afterwards 
because  he  began  by  doing  his  work  well. 
Though  he  was  paid  then  only  two  or  three 
dollars  a  week  above  his  board,  he  tied  each 
package  so  carefully  that  he  did  it  well,  bet- 


150    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

ter  than  all  the  other  boys.  He  had  the  hon- 
our which  he  ought  to  have  had,  and  the  in- 
estimable satisfaction  of  conscience  in  know- 
ing that  whatever  he  did,  he  did  well. 

Governor  Talbott,  of  Massachusetts,  was 
elected  upon  the  saying  of  General  Swift,  of 
that  state,  who  said  to  the  convention,  "I 
nominate  a  man  for  governor  of  the  state  of 
Massachusetts,  who,  when  he  was  a  farmer's 
boy,  hoed  to  the  end  of  the  row."  It  became 
a  cry  all  through  the  state,  "  He  hoed  to  the 
end  of  the  row  ! "  The  weeds  were  all  down, 
even  beyond  the  last  hill  of  corn.  There 
was  nothing  left  in  the  field  to  compete  with 
the  potatoes  or  corn.  He  hoed  to  the  end 
of  the  row.  When  they  found  that  that  was 
his  characteristic,  and  recognized  the  truth- 
ful application  of  the  proverb,  he  was  elected 
by  one  of  the  greatest  majorities  that  was 
ever  given  to  a  governor  in  Massachusetts. 

Christ  is  our  noble  example.  He  doeth 
all  things  well.  Not  only  one  thing,  but  all 
things,  well.  We  may  not  be  able  to  do 
more  than  one  or  two  things  as  well  as  we 
would,  and  not  be  able  to  do  many  things 
thoroughly  as  we  ought.  Yet  we  can  hold 
up  this  ideal.  There  is  Christ.  He  doeth 
all  things  well.  He  doeth  to  the  very  best 
everything  that  He  does. 


NOT  WEAEY  OF  WELL-DOING      151 

When  the  meaning  of  that  text  swept  in 
upon  me,  and  I  saw  Christ  so  high  and  men 
so  low  ;  He  so  perfect  and  men  so  imperfect; 
He  so  divine,  we  so  finite ;  He  so  pure,  we 
so  sinful ;  oh  !  then  the  Gospel  came  home  to 
me,  and  in  humbleness  of  heart,  my  soul 
sinking  down  before  God,  I  asked  Him  for 
another  opportunity  to  begin  again,  that  I 
might  strive  to  do  well  the  things  God  gave 
me  to  do. 

This  same  spirit  I  urge  upon  you  :  Be  not 
weary  in  doing  good  things,  but  especially 
be  not  weary  in  doing  those  good  things 
just  as  thoroughly  as  it  is  possible  for  each  to 
be  done. 


X 

PITY  BRINGS  STRENGTH 

"  My     strength     is     made     perfect    in     weakness." 
(2  Cor,  xii.  p.) 

IN  Persepolis — or  in  the  village  which 
stands  near  that  ancient  capital  of  the 
Babylonian  Empire — in  1869  a  party  of 
travellers  were  invited  to  visit  the  governor 
of  the  village.  The  visit,  characteristic  of 
Eastern  habits  and  traits,  was  full  of  surprises 
and  symbols  intended  to  entertain  and  instruct 
the  guests  from  the  Western  world.  I  was 
but  a  young  man,  and  yet  the  vision  of  that 
evening's  visit  becomes  clearer  now  with  every 
passing  year.  There  were  many  entertain- 
ments. Beautiful  young  women  came  out  and 
sang  and  danced ;  the  fountains  played  in  the 
courtyard  in  a  great  variety  of  colours  under 
the  light,  and  the  music  seemed  to  be  tuned 
to  the  sound  of  the  waterfall.  But  the  surprise 
that  was  the  greatest  to  me,  and  which  illus- 
trates the  thought  of  the  text,  was  late  in  the 
evening,  when  the  guests  had  grown  weary 
with  the  many  things  they  had  enjoyed.  A  tent 
152 


PITY  BEINGS  STEENGTH  153 

cloth  was  drawn  across  the  entire  courtyard 
rolling  across  and  enclosing  it  like  a  roof. 
Then,  after  a  few  minutes  of  curious  waiting,  a 
door  was  thrown  open  in  the  side  of  the  resi- 
dence, or  palace,  and  from  it  came  a  fresh 
breeze  loaded  with  the  most  delightsome 
odours.  It  was  as  fresh  as  the  rose  in  the  dewy- 
morning  ;  it  was  as  soft  as  the  lullaby  of  a 
mother ;  it  was  as  uplifting  and  inspiring  as 
some  positive  stimulant;  it  filled  the  whole 
room  into  which  the  courtyard  had  been  made 
with  a  restfulness,  a  sweetness  of  enjoyment,  a 
bath  of  the  soul  and  body  which  was  sooth- 
ingly restful  beyond  description.  I  know  not 
how  it  was  done,  and  I  had  not  the  wisdom 
then  to  inquire,  but  through  the  years  I  have 
often  looked  back  to  the  visit  in  that  Eastern 
land  of  the  Euphrates  and  wondered  if  that 
door  is  still  being  opened  in  the  governor's 
home,  and  if  the  visitors  are  still  entertained 
by  the  incoming  of  that  draught,  or  bath,  of 
precious  odour. 

The  apostle  said,  '*  My  strength  is  made 
perfect  in  weakness."  When  the  company 
in  that  Eastern  palace  were  weary,  the  door 
was  thrown  open  and  in  flooded  those  refresh- 
ing odours.  It  was  only  when  we  were  weak, 
only  when  we  had  reached  a  wearisome  stage 
in  our  visit,  or  were  supposed  to  have  done 


154    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

so,  that  the  door  was  thrown  open  and  that 
delightsome  experience  enjoyed.  The  apostle 
says,  *'  My  weakness  is  the  source  of  my 
strength.  My  strength  is  made  perfect  in 
weakness.  It  is  only  when  I  am  weak  that  I 
am  truly  strong." 

Not  long  since  I  was  reading  the  chapter 
on  Saul's  anointing  by  Samuel.  I  read  that 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  came  upon  Saul  and 
made  him  another  man.  Then,  a  little  farther 
on,  I  read  that  the  multitude  followed  him 
*'  whose  heart  the  Lord  had  touched,"  and  I 
was  surprised  that,  after  all  these  years  of 
thinking  upon  Scriptural  things,  I  had  not 
realized  the  difPerence  between  the  mechanical 
coming  of  the  Spirit  of  God  into  Saul's  heart 
and  life,  and  the  conversion  of  a  soul  to 
Christ  and  God.  I  had  always  confused  the 
thoughts,  until  last  night,  in  a  wakeful  half- 
dream,  I  thought  of  Saul  as  a  conduit  for  the 
Spirit.  I  thought  how  the  outside  of  a  water 
pipe  is  perfectly  dry,  although  the  water  con- 
tinues in  a  flood  to  press  on  towards  its  level 
in  the  valley  below.  It  was  the  same  with 
Saul's  life,  and  instead  of  interpreting  the  ex- 
pression, he  '*  became  another  man  "  as  a  soul 
revolution,  it  seems  to  have  meant  a  tempo- 
rary use  of  Saul  as  an  instrument  for  the 
accomplishment    of    God's    great    purpose. 


PITY  BEIXGS  STEENGTH  155 

Saul  seems  to  have  been  a  mere  conduit  for 
the  Spirit  of  God.  The  Spirit  of  God  took 
possession  of  him  when  it  had  need  of  himc 
It  does  not  seem  that  Saul,  as  his  subsequent 
life  showed,  was  really  a  converted  man  at 
this  time.  The  Spirit  of  God  flowed  through 
him,  but  he  was  completely  dry,  although 
floods  of  a  spiritual  kind  went  through  his 
soul. 

Meditation  upon  it  has  sent  the  confusion 
from  my  mind  and  the  Scripture  seems  so 
clearly  defined  now  that  I  understand  what  be- 
fore was  confused  in  my  thought.  People 
have  asked  me  to  explain  how  Saul  could  have 
done  what  he  afterwards  did  do,  and  how 
David  did  what  he  afterwards  did,  if  his  heart 
was  with  God  in  the  sense  which  we  mean 
when  we  speak  of  a  conversion  to  jesus  Christ. 
Saul's  heart  was  filled  with  the  Spirit  as  the 
door  was  opened,  and  into  his  life  came  this 
atmosphere,  this  God-Spirit,  this  perfume, 
inspiring  him,  raising  him  up  and  giving  him 
strength  in  the  hour  of  his  weakness. 

The  door  that  was  opened  was  the  door  of 
human  pity.  We  read  in  Proverbs  that  "  he 
that  pitieth  the  poor  lendeth  to  the  Lord,"  and 
that  the  Lord  pitieth  His  children  as  a  father 
pitieth  his  own.  We  learn  that  the  way  to  the 
activities  of  a  man  is  to  open  the  door  of  his 


156    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

pity ;  for  when  that  door  is  opened  all  the 
perfume,  richness  and  inspiration  of  God's 
Spirit  comes  in  and  inspires  him  to  deeds  he 
would  not  do,  and  sends  him  out  on  messages 
on  which  he  would  not  run,  and  he  ac- 
complishes things  he  had  not  before  under- 
stood, or  purposed. 

So  in  the  life  of  Samson.  I  do  not  think 
that  Samson  was  a  godly  man  in  the  sense 
in  which  we  now  understand  it.  We  read 
that  the  Spirit  of  God  took  possession  of  that 
man,  and  then  he  secured  this  wonderful 
strength.  We  find  that  the  people  of  Israel 
and  of  Judah  were  being  so  terribly  oppressed 
that  Samson's  patriotic  heart  seems  to  have 
been  filled  with  pity  for  them.  He  seems  to 
have  been  a  rough  man  of  the  mountains, 
full  of  impulses  for  good,  yet  very  rough. 
He  certainly  was  not  a  Christian.  But  when 
he  saw  the  oppression,  when  he  felt,  as  Saul 
had  felt,  the  pains  and  the  privations,  the 
disgrace  and  the  humiliation  of  his  nation,  he 
pitied  the  people.  He  saw  them  labouring 
in  the  fields  for  crops  of  which  the  Philistines 
would  rob  them  ;  he  saw  them  bringing  up 
children  that  would  soon  be  dashed  to  pieces. 
He  saw  them  in  trouble  ;  he  saw  their  falling 
tears  and  heard  their  sighs,  and  his  great, 
rough,   mountainous  heart  opened   towards 


PITY  BEINGS  STEENGTH  157 

them  and  he  pitied  them.  As  soon  as  he 
pitied  them  the  door  opened  and  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  came  into  Samson,  and  he 
became  a  giant  who,  with  the  jaw-bone  of  an 
ass,  could  defeat  an  army,  and  who  could, 
with  one  arm,  lift  the  massive  gates  of  Gaza 
and  carry  them  to  the  mountain  top.  Pity  is 
the  door  through  which  the  Spirit  of  God 
enters  into  the  lives  of  men,  whether  they  are 
godly  or  not. 

Years  ago,  I  saw  a  picture  of  the  scene 
when  the  Queen  of  Austria  and  Hungary, 
Maria  Teresa,  took  it  to  the  knights  and 
warriors  of  Hungary.  How  the  Spirit  of  God 
and  the  spirit  of  patriotism  seemed  to  come 
like  flooding  waves  into  their  hearts  !  They 
pitied  her  and  her  motherhood  ;  they  pitied 
the  little  child  which  should  have  inherited  a 
throne,  but  from  whom  it  was  being  taken. 
They  pitied  their  own  land  for  its  suffering 
because  of  foreign  tyranny.  As  soon  as  a 
strong  pity  took  possession  of  the  hearts  of 
those  warriors,  their  swords  were  flung  forth 
to  the  light  of  day,  and  there,  in  excited 
thousands,  in  the  presence  of  the  little  child 
exhibited  to  them,  they  swore  to  die  to  preserve 
the  inheritance  of  that  child.  God's  strength 
came  to  the  hearts  of  those  soldiers  when 
pity  flung  open  the  doors  of  their  hearts. 


158    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

James  I  was  a  child  in  Scotland,  and  on 
account  of  religious  persecution,  he  was  being 
driven  from  his  rights  and  his  inheritance, 
which  the  people  thought  he  was  entitled  to 
for  their  good.  But  that  little  child,  that 
little  baby,  was  so  helpless  in  its  weakness. 
What  could  it  do  ?  Nothing.  It  could 
scarcely  call  for  food.  It  must  be  fed  and 
nursed.  It  could  not  walk  ;  it  could  not  talk ; 
it  could  not  govern.  But  in  its  supreme 
weakness  it  awakened  the  pity  of  those  grand 
Scottish  hearts  from  the  plains  to  the  High- 
lands, and  that  baby,  because  he  was  weak, 
received  the  homage  of  the  nation,  while 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  because  she  was  strong, 
was  set  aside  with  no  heart  opened  in  sym- 
pathy towards  her  except  those  who  had  a 
selfish  object  in  following  her. 

I  remember  a  day  in  December,  1859,  when 
nearly  the  whole  of  New  England  was  in 
tears.  That  morning,  from  eleven  to  twelve 
o'clock,  we  all  sat  in  gloomy  silence,  and  we 
wept  while  John  Brown  was  being  hanged  at 
Charleston,  Virginia.  How  we  pitied  him  I 
How  we  pitied  his  family  and  his  sons  !  All 
the  North  pitied  John  Brown.  Then  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  came  upon  the  North  and  roused 
men  from  their  lethargy  to  real  manhood, 
and  that  Spirit  of  the  Lord  turned  itself  in 


PITY  BEINGS  STEENGTH  159 

volumes  towards  the  slaves — the  poor  slave 
of  the  South,  being  whipped,  owned  and  sold, 
whose  food  was  furnished  at  the  will  of 
another  ;  who  could  not  worship  God  except 
as  his  master  willed.  How  we  pitied  the 
slaves  I  I  remember  sitting  at  my  mother's 
knee  and  hearing  the  story  of  "  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin,"  and  crying  for  an  hour  as  she  read 
it.  So  did  many  another  child  in  the  North. 
Not  that  we  were  more  righteous  than  others 
were — not  that ;  not  that  we  loved  God  better 
than  did  men  in  the  South,  but  a  great  pity  for 
the  slave  and  for  John  Brown  had  come  into 
our  hearts,  and  the  spirit  of  an  ordinary  man 
became  a  Samson.  We  were  not  so  good, 
but  our  pity  enabled  God  to  use  us. 

But  we  hear  worse  things  now,  and  they 
move  us  not.  If  they  did,  the  American  people 
would  arise  in  their  might  and  there  would 
be  no  more  of  such  fearful  things  to  disgrace 
this  nation.  But  there  is  not  pity  enough, 
and  where  there  is  not  pity  God's  Spirit  comes 
not  in,  and  we  will  all  be  a  set  of  contemptible 
cowards  until  we  pity  enough  to  be  brave 
enough  to  say  that  such  disgraces  shall  never 
occur  again. 

The  Jews  have  suffered.  Yesterday  in  all 
their  synagogues,  on  their  Sabbath,  they 
prayed  in  tears  for  God  to  save  their  perse- 


160    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

cuted  people  in  Russia.  May  pity  again 
take  possession  of  our  hearts  and  we  again 
become  Americans  and  say  to  the  world  that 
anywhere  on  earth,  where  man  is  oppressed, 
he  has  the  sympathy,  direct  and  open,  of  the 
American  people.  We  said  that  when  we 
were  weak,  when  we  numbered  less  than 
twelve  millions — we  said  it  to  the  world. 
When  we  numbered  only  forty  millions  we 
declared  that  oppression,  anywhere  on  earth, 
should  have  the  direct  succour  and  help  of 
the  American  people.  But  now  we  approach 
nearly  one  hundred  millions  in  number,  and 
we  lie  down  in  our  contemptible  peace  and 
let  the  oppression  go  on.  We  do  not  even 
*'  pass  a  resolution  "  in  favour  of  the  deliver- 
ance of  the  oppressed.  There  is  a  time  right 
now  when  pity  should  open  the  door  to  this 
generous,  strong  Spirit  of  God. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  Armenians  suf- 
fered ;  and  the  Armenians  might  have  been 
helped  out  of  their  trouble  if  America  and 
England  had  simply  expressed  their  sym- 
pathy, or  if  they  had  really  had  any  pity. 
When  I  think  of  Miss  Barton  labouring  among 
that  oppressed  and  suffering  people,  through 
that  famine  and  through  those  wars,  and 
what  she  must  have  seen,  it  seems  to  me  as 
if  she  must  have  been  ashamed  of  her  own 


PITY  BEINGS  STEENGTH  161 

land,  that  we  should  do  so  little  and  should 
have  so  little  care.  God's  Spirit  was  not  in 
us  ;  our  pity  had  not  been  roused  and  conse- 
quently the  odours  of  the  air  from  the  very 
hills  of  heaven  we  did  not  and  do  not  know. 

Washington  pitied  these  colonies  and  gave 
himself,  in  his  aristocratic  estate,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  those  he  pitied.  God's  Spirit  came  into 
his  noble  heart. 

The  suggestion  that  our  strength  is  made 
by  our  weakness  is  shown  in  the  fact  that 
God  is  called  our  Father.  A  father  always 
helps  the  weakest,  he  is  always  tender  and 
patient  with  the  weakest.  How  weak  and 
helpless  the  little  babe  is,  but  how  it  opens 
the  heart  of  the  father  because  it  is  so  weak. 
It  is  so  little  ;  there  is  so  small  an  opportunity 
for  the  exhibition  of  strength  that  the  father's 
entire  power  is  aroused  to  its  highest  force. 
It  is  his,  and  his  fatherhood  makes  him  do 
almost  anything  for  that  little  one.  And  so 
God's  almighty  Fatherhood  comes  especially 
to  the  weak.  He  is  a  God  of  the  fatherless 
and  of  the  widow,  the  God  of  the  slave  and 
of  the  oppressed,  the  God  of  the  sick.  He  is 
especially  strong  towards  those  who  need 
Him  most. 

In  her  weakness  dwells  woman's  greatest 
power.     Many  a  wife  gets  very  little  atten- 


162    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  OHEIST  LIFE 

tion  from  her  husband  because  she  is  so  strong 
that  she  can  take  good  care  of  herself.  Some- 
times the  sweetest  and  richest  things  in  do- 
mestic Hfe  lose  all  their  force  and  value  be- 
cause the  woman  is  too  strong  and  forceful. 
A  man  loves,  not  a  weak  woman,  in  one 
sense,  but  a  feminine  woman  in  another  sense. 
He  loves  one  that  is  in  a  measure  dependent, 
that  he  may  exercise  his  strength  to  supply 
what  she  lacks.  We  do  not  want  women  to 
go  on  the  battle-field  ;  we  do  not  want  them 
to  do  the  fighting  in  the  open,  because  we 
claim  the  privilege  of  doing  that.  Men  will 
become  very,  very  weak  when  women  be- 
come very,  very  strong.  The  reverse  must 
necessarily  come. 

I  have  often  thought  that  the  highest  possi- 
ble calling  on  earth  for  a  woman  was  to  be  a 
nurse.  There  can  be  nothing  higher  than 
ministering  to  those  who  are  weak,  and  the 
pity  that  fills  the  heart  of  one  caring  for  the 
unfortunate  and  the  weak  precedes  the  in- 
pouring  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  I  should  not 
be  preaching  the  Gospel  if  a  little  boy  had 
not  felt  such  great  pity.  Because  he  once 
felt  such  great  pity  he  was  moved  to  such 
deeds  of  heroism  that  I  am  inspired  all  the 
time  by  the  love  I  have  for  that  boy. 

Oh,  to  be  an  invalid  is  sad  ;  to  be  a  **  shut 


PITY  BEINGS  STEENGTH  163 

in  "  is  deserving  of  sympathy  ;  yet  there  are 
some  "  shut  ins"  who  are  in  a  continuous 
heaven  of  surrounding  sympathy  and  tender- 
ness which  the  strong  yearn  for  day  by  day. 
It  has  its  compensations  to  be  a  "  shut  in." 

The  incoming  of  that  deviHsh  spirit  into 
the  hearts  of  men  that  leads  them  to  do  only 
for  the  strong  we  all  recognize  to  be  wicked. 
He  that  helps  only  the  powerful  is  to  be 
despised.  When  David  had  won  a  mighty 
victory  for  his  nation  against  great  odds, 
then  all  the  tribes  of  Israel  came  around  and 
said,  **  You  have  always  been  a  relative  of 
ours  ;  you  are  bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of 
our  flesh,  and  we  have  always  loved  you,  we 
have  always  liked  you."  That  is  the  world's 
way.  There  is  no  success  like  success.  Let 
some  man  be  suddenly  raised  to  power, 
though  no  greater  now  than  he  was  before  he 
was  known,  yet  because  he  has  met  with 
some  success,  we  all  come  and  praise  him. 
That  is  the  devilish  spirit  and  directly  in 
contrast  with  the  spirit  expressed  in  this  text. 

I  was  out  in  the  Monongahela  Valley  not 
long  ago  at  a  place  where  they  had  dug  out 
twenty-three  miners.  I  hardly  believed  it 
possible  that  such  vast  quantities  of  material 
could  be  dug  out,  that  so  many  ditches  could 
be  dug  and  so  many  shafts  put  in  in  seven 


164    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST^  LIFE 

days.  But  those  workers  were  trying  to 
succour  their  friends  under  ground,  and  they 
were  inspired  with  double  strength  as  they 
thought  of  the  helpless  victims  buried  in  that 
mine,  and  they  became  Samsons  because 
God's  Spirit  came  unto  them. 

The  strikes  would  all  stop  if  there  was 
pity  enough.  In  a  manufacturing  village  in 
Massachusetts  there  is  one  factory  that  gives 
employment  to  the  whole  community.  But 
there  has  never  been  a  strike  there,  or  a  sug- 
gestion of  a  strike.  It  is  not  because  the 
wages  paid  are  higher  or  the  hours  of  work 
are  less,  but  it  is  because  of  a  little  crippled 
girl.  She  is  the  daughter  of  the  owner  of 
the  factory,  and  when  she  is  carried  out 
the  workmen  see  her  and  speak  to  her  ;  she 
smiles  back  at  them  and  the  home  of  that 
owner  is  almost  sacred  to  those  workmen 
because  of  the  fact  that  that  little  crippled 
girl  is  there.  They  regard  her  with  such 
tenderness  that  they  are  willing  to  receive 
suggestions  and  to  discuss  their  troubles  like 
brothers  on  account  of  the  influence  that  she 
exerts  upon  them.  The  owner  of  the  factory 
also  feels  her  power,  and  he  is  willing  to 
discuss  matters  with  his  workmen,  and  the 
consequence  is  that  those  men  would  not 
consider  for  a  moment  the  idea  of  a  strike. 


PITY  BEINGS  STEENGTH  165 

I  remember  General  Sherman's  advance  at 
Dallas,  Ga.,  in  1864.  We  were  stationed  at 
the  west  of  Dallas,  and  told  to  fire  in  case  we 
should  see  any  one.  After  waiting  for  some 
time  a  number  of  Confederates  were  seen 
coming  from  the  houses  striving  to  hide  in  the 
cellars  or  to  get  away  towards  the  river. 
The  whole  corps  were  drawn  up  in  battle 
array,  ready  to  fire,  when  the  officer,  riding 
down  the  line,  shouted,  "  Halt !  Halt !  Hah ! " 
Why  halt  ?  A  litde  boy  was  running  down 
the  street.  Hundreds  of  the  enemy  were  in 
sight,  and  our  army  was  ready  to  fire,  but 
when  this  little  child  was  seen  toddhng  down 
the  street,  the  men  were  ordered  to  resume 
their  position,  and  not  a  shot  was  fired  until 
that  little  child  was  safely  out  of  the  way — in 
fact,  until  a  cavalry  company  made  a  charge 
down  the  street  and  placed  the  little  child  in 
a  house.  Then  the  firing  began.  The  whole 
army  was  stopped  by  that  little  child.  If  it 
had  been  a  man  they  would  have  shot  him 
down.  If  he  had  even  been  a  man  of  peace, 
or  an  old  man,  strong  in  power  and  years, 
they  would  have  fired,  and  sacrificed  his  life 
for  their  country's  good  ;  but  the  little  tod- 
dling baby  won  the  consideration  of  the  whole 
army. 

The  apostle  is  continually  impressing  the 


166    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

thought  upon  his  followers  that  they  must 
not  be  ashamed  of  their  weakness.  He 
teaches  us,  too,  that  we  must  use  our  strength 
as  far  as  we  can,  for  God  has  given  us  our 
strength  to  be  used,  and  pretended  weakness 
is  hypocrisy ;  but  if  we  are  weak  after  we  do 
all  we  can,  He  will  fill  our  weakness  with  His 
almighty  strength. 


XI 


A  SHINING  FACE 

"  And  Moses  knew  not  that  his  face  shone.**  (^Ex, 
xxix.  2 p.) 

THE  Sonora  Indian  tribe,  of  Califor- 
nia, is  noted  for  its  "  fire  men,"  men 
whose  faces  shine  with  an  electric 
display,  so  that  in  the  night-time  they  can 
be  seen  a  long  distance.  They  are  feared 
and  worshipped  because  of  this. 

A  great  German  writer  says  that  every 
man  or  woman  is  thus  illuminated.  That  is, 
that  the  activity  of  the  forces  of  nature  con- 
tinually generates  certain  electric  forces  which 
express  themselves  in  light,  so  that  in  certain 
circumstances,  with  a  sufficiently  acute  eye- 
sight, they  may  be  seen  in  the  dark,  because 
of  the  light  vibrations  which  are  going  forth 
from  them  all  the  time.  When  I  read  this 
dissertation,  I  thought  of  the  transfiguration 
of  Jesus  Christ  on  Mount  Hermon,  and  how 
His  whole  body  did  shine.  It  was  perhaps 
only  an  intensified  condition  of  that  which 
characterizes  all  of  us. 

167 


168    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

Music  is  but  a  form  of  vibration,  and  con- 
sequently when  we  feel,  or  send  out,  its 
forces,  they  may  be  felt  or  seen  by  others. 
They  may  be  both  seen  and  felt,  not  by  the 
ordinary  eye  perhaps,  not  by  ordinary  ear- 
drums, and  yet  they  are  real  sounding  forces, 
they  are  electric  discharges,  they  are  forces 
of  light,  all  being  of  the  same  nature,  differing 
only  in  their  degree  of  vibration,  just  as  a 
high  note  differs  from  a  lower  one  in  the  rate 
of  wave  motion. 

Now  Moses'  face  shone.  He  did  not  know 
it.  He  did  not  know  how  beautiful  his  fea- 
tures were.  He  did  not  know  how  his  eyes 
flashed  with  that  brighter  and  diviner  light 
which  had  come  to  him  on  the  mountain  top. 

I  remember  the  day  when  we  encamped 
on  that  mountain  top  at  Sinai,  where  Moses 
stood,  and  how  when  the  evening  shades 
began  to  fall  there  seemed  to  be  around 
us  the  ancient  forms.  Imagination  brought 
them  back  in  clearest  view,  and  it  seemed  to 
two  of  us  who  were  companions  together,  as 
if  we  were  Hving  it  over  again.  And  when 
darkness  came,  we  could  imagine  the  illumi- 
nated cloud,  the  light  of  God,  the  communi- 
cation of  the  voice  of  God.  We  could  see 
Moses  walking  down  that  rough  pathway, 
down  the  ledges  of  the  cliffs  into  the  deep, 


A  SHINING  FACE  169 

narrow  valley,  his  face  gleaming  so  that  they 
saw  how  beautiful  the  communication  of  God 
must  have  been. 

In  his  story  of  "three  Johnnies  in  one," 
Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  says  there  is 
first  "the  John  that  one  thinks  he  is." 

Reading  back  in  the  life  of  Moses,  I  won- 
der whether  Moses  did  realize  his  own  con- 
dition at  all.  If  he  thought  anything  about 
it,  what  was  his  view  of  it  ?  What  do  we 
think  of  ourselves  ?  Can  we  trust  our  view  ? 
Are  we  sure  that  we  estimate  ourselves 
aright  ? 

In  Boston  a  man  came  along  the  street, 
staggered  against  me,  smelling  of  liquor,  and 
saying,  "  Who  am  I  ?  "  I  told  him  he  ought 
to  know,  but  he  said  he  did  not.  I  took  him 
home  with  me,  walking  a  long  distance  to 
my  house,  and  kept  him  all  night,  and  on 
the  way  out  he  told  me  that  he  could  over- 
come a  dozen  men  in  a  single  fistic  battle ; 
that  he  knew  more  than  the  mayor  of  Boston 
(and  that  was  no  great  boast) ;  that  he  had 
friends  who  were  influential,  high  up  in 
affairs,  and  what  a  great  man  he  was,  and 
it  took  all  his  breath  to  tell  it.  I  put  the 
drunken  man  to  bed.  I  had  to  watch  by 
him  to  make  it  safe  for  my  family.  In  the 
morning,  after  sleeping  from  four  o'clock  on, 


170    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

he  came  to  himself  out  of  his  stupor.  Then 
he  had  a  second  view  of  himself,  and  the 
view  he  had  then  was  a  mighty  contrast  with 
what  he  had  the  night  before.  Now,  with 
his  head  aching,  his  limbs  aching,  and  feel- 
ing disgraced  and  ashamed  that  he  had  been 
taken  home  by  a  stranger,  and  that  his  fam- 
ily did  not  know  where  he  was,  he  cursed 
himself  with  the  bitterest  of  curses.  He 
wanted  to  commit  suicide.  He  wanted  to 
die.  He  said,  "  I  am  not  worthy  to  live.  I 
am  nothing  but  a  degraded,  low,  miserable 
worm  of  the  earth."  Two  different  views  he 
had  of  himself.  I  mention  this  to  show  that 
we  all  have  different  views  of  ourselves  at 
different  times,  and  neither  of  them  seems  to 
be  trustworthy.  The  second  **  Johnnie  "  is  the 
one  which  others  think  him  to  be. 

The  view  that  the  people  had  of  Moses* 
face,  and  the  view  he  took  of  his  own  face 
were  very  different  things.  Moses  was  a  very 
modest  man,  underestimating  his  ability. 
He  said  to  the  Lord,  **  I  cannot  speak,  I 
have  a  stammering  tongue  and  a  weak  voice. 
I  cannot  express  myself."  Underestimating 
himself.  How  rare  it  is  for  a  person  ever  to 
see  himself  as  he  really  is.  It  may  some- 
times happen,  yet  usually  we  are  far  astray. 

I  talked  with  a  young  woman  yesterday, 


A  SHINING  FACE  171 

who  said  she  wished  she  had  a  college  edu- 
cation, and  wondered  if  it  were  possible. 
"  But/'  she  said,  *'  it  would  not  be  of  much 
use  to  me.  I  could  not  use  a  college  educa- 
tion. I  could  not  do  what  other  women  do 
in  the  world,"  underestimating,  all  the  time, 
her  strength  and  ability.  While  I  knew,  by- 
observation,  that  she  had  the  genius  to  do 
great  things  if  she  would,  yet  it  was  almost 
useless  for  me  to  endeavour  to  persuade  her 
that  such  was  the  case. 

I  remember  a  young  lady  under  similar 
circumstances,  saying  that  she  did  not  know 
that  she  could  be  of  any  use  in  this  world. 
I  told  her  of  a  dozen  things,  and  said,  **  If 
you  only  knew  yourself,  you  would  set  your- 
self to  writing.  You  ought  to  be  an  author." 
She  smiled  as  if  I  were  only  making  sport 
of  her.  Afterwards,  circumstances  drove  her 
to  that  kind  of  work,  and  when,  the  other 
day,  she  told  me  she  was  receiving  $3,000  a 
year  and  was  soon  to  go  still  higher  in  her 
literary  work,  I  thought  of  her  as  the  poor 
girl  who  earned  $3.00  a  week  because  she 
failed  to  get  an  accurate  estimate  of  what 
she  was  really  worth.  That  is  almost  uni- 
versally the  case  with  women.  Because  of 
their  feminine  instincts,  because  of  their 
natural  love  for  home,  and  the  expectation 


172    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHKIST  LIFE 

of  home  life,  they  abandon  all  thought  of 
their  genius,  of  their  intellectual  capacity,  of 
their  influence  upon  the  world  in  other  walks 
of  life.     They  do  not  see  their  own  identity. 

We  cannot  judge  ourselves.  We  either  un- 
derestimate or  overestimate,  or  put  a  wrong 
value  on  different  traits,  and  seldom  see  our- 
selves, as  Burns  said,  "  As  ithers  see  us." 

Some  man  thinks  he  can  sin  and  it  will 
not  be  discovered.  Some  man  thinks  he  can 
do  wrong  and  not  be  punished.  Some  man 
thinks  he  can  do  what  others  have  never 
done,  that  he  is  so  gigantic  he  can  overcome 
the  laws  of  nature,  and  the  laws  of  God. 
Some  man  thinks  he  can  drink  whiskey  and 
not  benumb  his  mind.  Some  man  thinks  he 
can  eat  to  excess  and  not  destroy  his  appe- 
tite. Some  man  thinks  he  can  break  down 
all  the  laws  of  nature  himself  and  never  be 
sick,  while  all  around  him  other  people  are 
falling  by  the  way.  Never  a  thought  of 
death  really  comes  to  the  minds  of  most  men. 
Never  a  thought  that  there  is  an  end  to  this 
life  and  must  be  a  beginning  to  some  other. 
How  absurd  is  the  view  they  have  of  them- 
selves. 

What  a  false  vision  is  given  by  a  hysterical 
patient  of  herself,  of  her  ability,  of  her  cir- 
cumstances.     Everything    is    gloomy,   sad. 


A  SHINING  FACE  173 

Everything   is   full   of  sorrow  and  woe  and 
wretchedness.     The  "blues"  destroy  every 


"  All  looks  infected  that  the  infected  spy, 
As  all  looks  yellow  to  the  jaundiced  eye." 


A  dyspeptic  never  sees  the  world  as  it  is. 
The  sun  is  never  as  bright ;  the  trees  are  never 
as  green  ;  people  never  as  interesting ;  faces 
never  as  beautiful ;  fruits  never  as  luscious  ; 
the  flowers  never  have  the  same  perfume, 
to  a  dyspeptic.  He  sees  an  unreal  world. 
If  he  has  been  dyspeptic  all  his  life  and  gets 
out  of  it,  and  looks  back  upon  it,  he  will 
never  recognize  any  place  where  he  has  been, 
or  any  person  he  has  met.  It  is  strange  that 
Moses  did  not  see  that. 

In  the  old  day  they  had  a  scapegoat.  The 
sinner  who  had  committed  some  awful  crime 
would  come  to  the  priest,  and  put  his  hands 
on  the  goat's  head.  Then  the  priest  would 
repeat  the  formula  and  send  the  goat  into 
the  wilderness,  and  the  sins  of  the  man  went 
with  the  scapegoat  into  the  wilderness,  and 
he  was  free  from  sin.  Now  that,  as  I  present 
it,  sounds  absurd,  and  yet  a  deeper  study  of 
human  nature  shows  that  the  form  was  a 
necessity.     It  accomplished  that  very  thing. 


174    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

A  celebrated  doctor  in  Chicago  experi- 
mented with  some  of  his  hysterical  patients 
who  worried,  and  told  them  to  take  a  box, 
place  it  on  the  bureau,  and  every  morning 
they  should  get  up,  take  hold  of  the  worry 
at  their  lips  as  though  it  were  an  actual 
capsule,  lift  the  cover  of  the  box,  put  their 
worry  in  and  shut  the  box.  "  Now,^'  said  he, 
**  try  to  believe  that  the  worry  is  there."  He 
declared  that  in  seven  out  of  the  eight  cases 
it  was  a  complete  cure  for  the  worry.  Be- 
cause the  suggestion  of  putting  that  sin  or 
that  worry  in  the  box  enabled  them  so  to 
overcome,  that  they  escaped  the  trouble 
itself. 

So  when  these  men  had  repented  of  their 
sins  but  would  worry  lest  they  were  not  for- 
given, the  priest  went  through  this  motion  of 
putting  the  sins  on  that  goat's  head  and 
sending  the  goat  into  the  wilderness.  The 
suggested  thought,  the  very  impulse  of  the 
impression,  was  so  reactive  upon  the  person 
himself,  that  he  got  into  the  habit  of  thinking 
his  sins  were  sent  away,  and  soon  forgot  them 
and  slept  in  peace.  A  man  thus  seeing  him- 
self finds  he  was  not  the  man  he  thought  he 
was.  He  worries,  and  in  his  worry  he  was 
one  man.  When  his  sins  and  worries  are 
taken  away,  then  he  is  another  man ;  and  how 


A  SHINING  FACE  175 

shall  we  tell  what  manner  of  man  we  are 
when  the  same  man  has  so  many  different 
views  of  himself  in  every  day's  experience? 

Other  people  do  not  often  estimate  us 
aright,  though  in  some  cases  they  are  nearer 
right  than  we  are.  But  the  world  is  equally 
in  error  with  ourselves  because  it  views  us 
from  an  entirely  different  experience.  You 
look  upon  me  and  judge  me,  but  you  cannot 
see  the  inheritance  of  my  fathers  and  mothers 
during  the  generations  past,  which  has  devel- 
oped in  my  system  and  in  my  mind  without 
any  responsibility  of  my  own  ;  and  you  can- 
not possibly  understand  the  thousand  myriads 
of  influences  which  have  generated  through 
the  ages,  and  all  combined  in  this  per- 
sonality. You  can  judge  only  partially  of 
yourself,  and  are  much  less  able  to  judge 
others. 

This  deep  thought  was  evidently  in  the 
Saviour's  mind  when  He  stated  we  should  not 
judge  each  other,  that  we  could  not  possibly 
judge  each  other  accurately.  We  could  see 
that  a  man's  face  shone,  we  could  see  that, 
but  we  could  not  read  his  character,  we  could 
not  read  his  soul,  we  could  not  outline  his 
ideas.  He  is  a  country  unknown  to  us. 
Every  one  present  is  unknown  to  every  other. 
Even  man  and  wife  when  they  have  lived 


176    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

together  for  forty  years  are  still  unacquainted 
with  each  other.  They  cannot  correctly  judge 
each  other  however  harmonious  they  may  be, 
because  each  has  experiences  in  some  way 
different  from  those  of  the  other. 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  said  there  was  also 
a  third  John.  Not  what  a  man  thinks  of 
himself, — not  what  other  people  think  of  him, 
is  the  truth,  for  that  is  nothing  but  reputation. 
The  real  thing  is  what  God  thinks  of  him. 
What  is  heaven's  view  ? 

I  had  a  dream,  a  strange,  eventful  dream, 
that  one  I  loved  for  many,  many  years  came 
into  my  room  through  the  open  door  and  sat 
down  on  the  edge  of  my  bed,  and  talked 
with  me  as  of  yore.  In  the  dream,  if  it  were 
all  a  dream,  she  said  to  me,  **  I  have  seen  you 
all  the  time  since  I  left  the  body."  When  I 
asked  her  if  my  name  was  written  in  the 
Lamb's  Book  of  Life,  she  smiled,  but  said, 
"  I  am  not  permitted  to  answer." 

I  think  the  loved  ones  gone  before  us, 
living  in  that  state  where  they  know  all 
things,  see  us  just  as  we  are,  get  a  view  of  us 
which  leads  them  often  to  smile  when  we  are 
in  sorrow,  and,  perhaps,  leads  them  to  tears 
when  we  are  in  smiles.  I  know  not  but  if  the 
holy  spirit  of  God  be  grieved,  others  may 
grieve  in  the  land  beyond.     I  cannot  quite 


A  SHINING  FACE  177 

believe  that  they  do,  but  I  believe  they  get 
the  accurate  view  of  us,  know  all  about  us. 

Heaven's  view  of  us  includes  all  the  genera- 
tions past,  all  the  influences  of  heredity  that 
have  come  down  to  us,  all  the  acquaintances 
we  have  had,  all  the  education  we  have 
secured.     It  knows  us  just  as  we  are. 


XII 

THE  SPIRITUAL  FOUNTAIN 

"  And  a  fountain  shall  come  forth  of  the  house  of  the 
Lord."     {Amos  Hi.  i8.) 

THIRTY  years  ago,  almost  to  the  very- 
day,  I  sat  on  a  large  broken  column 
of  some  ancient  temple  in  the  city 
of  Nazareth,  in  Palestine.  I  had  gone  out 
early  because  I  wished  to  meditate  by  my- 
self, and  drink  in  from  the  scene  those  sacred 
associations  which  can  be  obtained  only 
when  one  meditates  in  silence.  It  was  near 
the  fountain  of  the  Virgin.  I  sat  at  one  side, 
so  that  no  person  would  speak  to  me  or  in- 
terfere with  me  ;  not  knowing  their  language, 
and  they  not  knowing  mine,  there  was  little 
danger  of  disturbance.  I  sat  there  from  the 
rising  of  the  sun  for  an  hour  or  two,  and 
watched  the  coming  and  going  of  the  people 
to  that  fountain  where  the  Virgin  Mary  went 
to  draw  water  during  all  those  early  years  of 
Christ's  life.  One  cannot  get  from  travel  the 
real  spiritual  uplift  unless  he  have  time,  and 
the  freedom  of  mind  and  heart  to  sit  down  and 
178 


THE  SPIRITUAL  FOUNTAIN        179 

muse  until  he  feels  the  sacredness  of  the 
place  and  the  holiness  of  its  associations. 

That  morning  is  indelibly  fastened  on  my 
mind.  I  can  see  again  almost  every  face  as 
the  Nazarenes  came  from  the  hillside,  down 
their  steep  streets  into  the  valley,  to  the  foun- 
tain of  the  Virgin,  with  its  broken  and  rude 
brickwork,  remains  of  some  ancient  church 
that  had  been  torn  down  by  wars,  or  destroyed 
otherwise  by  time.  From  the  side  of  the 
brick  wall  flowed  forth  this  water,  about  four 
or  five  feet  above  the  walk.  Upon  their 
heads  and  upon  their  shoulders  the  people 
brought  water-pots,  and  placed  them  in  order, 
one  after  another,  under  the  mouth  of  the 
fountain.  When  the  water-pots  were  filled, 
each  took  his  own  burden  and  carried  it  away. 
Some  carried  it  up  to  the  high  hill  of  Naza- 
reth, some  along  the  valley  to  some  distant 
hill,  some  into  the  nearer  and  better  class  of 
houses,  and  som*e  departed  far  away  into  the 
fields.  It  was  a  continual  throng,  coming 
and  going,  singing,  laughing,  talking,  inter- 
mingling in  a  changing  panorama  of  human 
life. 

No  one  can  realize  what  the  Scripture 
means  when  it  speaks  of  the  fountain,  and 
uses  it  as  a  metaphor  for  salvation,  unless 
he  has  seen,  or  realized,  what  a  fountain  is  in 


180    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

an  Eastern  land.  It  is  the  centre  of  social 
life ;  it  is  the  focus  of  all  forms  of  business ; 
it  is  the  origin  of  so  much  that  contributes  to 
life  and  happiness,  that  the  fountain  is  con- 
sidered to  be  the  very  heart  of  the  commu- 
nity. A  farmer  came  by  me,  driving  his 
flock  of  sheep  ;  the  little  lambs  were  bleating 
and  leaping  about,  playing  with  each  other 
as  he  drove  them  near  to  the  fountain.  Then 
at  the  order  of  the  Sheik  of  the  village,  the 
great  procession  of  private  persons  paused, 
and  waited  until  he  had  secured  sufficient 
water  with  which  to  water  his  flocks  in  the 
rough  trough  near  by.  I  saw  him  bring  each 
sheep  to  the  trough  one  after  another.  The 
shepherd  knew  each  sheep.  He  knew  even 
each  lamb.  If  one  had  not  been  to  the 
trough  he  knew  it,  and  went  after  it  and 
brought  the  lamb  or  sheep  to  the  water. 
Then  with  his  long  crook  and  stafi  he  led 
them  back  into  the  field,  and  I  heard  his 
cheerful  song  as  he  disappeared  over  the 
hill  in  the  direction  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee. 

Procession  after  procession  passed  by,  and 
as  I  saw  the  men  come  and  drink  at  the 
fountain,  and  the  women  come  and  fill  their 
water-pots  and  pass  on,  I  realized  how 
wonderfully  expressive  of  spiritual  truth  is 
the  word  "fountain"  in  the  Scriptures.    Hun- 


THE  SPIEITUAL  FOUNTAIN        181 

dreds  of  times  it  is  used  as  an  expression  of 
God's  kindness,  mercy  and  love — the  flowing 
forth  naturally  from  the  heart  of  God  of  that 
affection  for  mankind.  As  I  saw  the  people 
carry  away  that  water,  it  occurred  to  me  how 
great  is  the  variety  of  uses  to  which  they  put 
it.  There  were  those  who  came  with  their 
great  jars  for  water  which  was  intended  to 
cleanse  the  house,  to  wash  up  the  floor, 
and  to  cleanse  the  front  steps.  I  could  tell 
the  difTerence  between  those  who  came  for 
that  purpose  and  those  who  came  for  drink- 
ing water  by  the  shape  and  form  of  the  water- 
pots  they  carried  upon  their  heads.  Some 
collected  it  for  the  purpose  of  cooking  the 
food  of  the  family.  Others  secured  it  for 
drinking  purposes.  Others  drew  it  for  med- 
icine. Others  carried  it  into  the  fields  for  irri- 
gation, and  others  washed  themselves  at  the 
fountain,  and  then  passed  away  with  clean 
faces  and  clean  hands  to  their  duties  in  some 
shop  near  by. 

It  was  interesting  to  me  to  notice  how  a 
little  carpenter  boy  came  and  washed  his 
hands  and  face,  and  cleansed  his  feet  very 
carefully  at  the  foot  of  the  fountain,  and  then 
went  up  into  a  shop  near  by,  to  engage  in  his 
labour  as  they  did  of  old. 

But  the  most  impressive  thing — it  seemed 


182    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

like  a  Providence  to  me,  though  it  must  have 
been  the  usual  custom  of  every-day  life — was 
when  there  came  by  me  with  her  bright  robes 
and  head-gear,  with  a  face  flushed,  with  beau- 
tiful eyes,  dark,  large  and  rich,  a  Nazarene 
woman,  carrying  upon  her  shoulder  her  little 
baby  boy.  He  was  nearly  naked,  and  sat 
upon  her  shoulder,  clasping  her  head  with 
his  little  hand.  She  held  a  water-pot  upon 
the  other  shoulder,  and  placed  it  under  the 
fountain.  With  the  kindness  of  one  of  the 
shepherd  boys  the  water-pot  was  placed  back 
upon  her  shoulder,  and  this  young  woman 
passed  back  by  me.  So  came  the  Virgin 
Mary  in  her  day  to  that  fountain,  and  took 
water  from  the  very  same  place,  and  may 
have  disappeared  in  the  same  way. 

Sometimes  I  have  been  disheartened — God 
forgive  !  Sometimes  we  have  all  felt  as  if  we 
might  do  a  thousandfold  more  than  we  do, 
and  in  that  we  are  partly  correct  and  partly 
wrong.  God  forgive  the  wrong !  Some- 
times we  think  because  age  is  coming  on  us 
that  God's  work  is  aging,  forgetting  that  His 
work  has  always  been  fresh  and  new.  The 
Church  of  Christ  in  any  town  or  city  or  vil- 
lage has  been  a  spiritual  fountain,  giving  out 
to  the  community,  like  the  fountain  of  the 
Virgin  at  Nazareth,  its  great  variety  of  life- 


THE  SPIEITUAL  FOUNTAIN        183 

giving  hope  and  joy.  There  is  a  spiritual 
atmosphere  around  a  real  church  of  Christ 
that  is  like  the  continual,  ceaseless  flow  of 
the  fountain  of  the  Virgin.  I  noticed  as  I 
sat  there  that  many  came  and  drank  at  the 
fountain.  They  put  their  mouths  under  it, 
and  drank  of  it,  or  caught  the  water  in  a  cup, 
or  in  their  hands,  lapping  it  like  the  men  of 
Gideon.  Women  would  come  laughing  and 
cheering  each  other,  and  playfully  spatter 
each  other  from  the  flowing  fountain ;  they 
also  drank  and  went  away  to  the  fields  or 
other  work.  Many  came  to  the  fountain 
only  to  drink  there.  I  take  that  as  a  won- 
derful metaphor.  Many  come  to  the  church 
to  drink  in  the  spiritual  sustenance  that  is 
given  at  the  church,  with  no  thought  of  car- 
rying any  away.  I  do  not  think  that  there 
is  any  real  spiritual  fountain  unless  people 
can  drink  at  it,  for  the  mistake  in  church  life 
is  the  thought  worship  consists  in  singing, 
speaking,  or  praying  in  form.  That  is  the 
great  error  that  has  misled  the  Church  for  all 
the  ages  and  hindered  the  growth  of  God's 
kingdom.  The  people  have  not  drunk  at 
the  fountain.  Many  of  you  can  testify  that 
people  come  into  the  church — it  is  not  any 
more  true  of  this  church  than  others — and 
feel  that  they  have  come  into  the  presence  of 


184    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

God.  They  feel  the  spiritual  influence  of 
Christ  Himself,  and  while  they  may  not  re- 
member anything  that  is  said,  may  forget  all 
about  the  hymn  or  even  the  Scriptures  that 
are  read,  yet  they  go  away  refreshed,  sup- 
ported, strengthened^  There  is  something 
miraculous,  indeed,  about  this.  If  a  man 
comes  into  the  church,  and  does  not  get  this 
spiritual  uplift,  then  he  has  nbt  received  what 
he  might  just  as  well  have  received.  He  has 
not  drunk  at  the  fountain.  The  fountain  is 
flowing — it  is  free  to  all.  Any  man  can 
drink,  any  man  can  sincerely  put  his  soul 
into  the  worship  of  Christ  when  he  goes  into 
the  house  of  God,  if  he  will.  A  remarkable 
illustration  is  right  here  in  the  house  this 
morning.  There  sits  in  this  house  one  who 
is  always  here  on  a  stormy  day,  a  lady  who 
has  looked  me  in  the  face  for  all  the  years 
since  I  have  been  in  The  Temple.  But  she 
cannot  hear  a  word  of  what  I  say — never  has 
heard  me  speak  here.  Yet  she  comes  every 
Sunday,  and  looks  into  my  face  and  into  the 
faces  of  the  chorus ;  and  gets  from  this  serv- 
ice a  spiritual  uplift,  a  peace  of  mind  in  spir- 
itual thought  that  perhaps  few  of  us  who  can 
hear  do  get.  She  says  that  when  she  comes 
into  the  church  and  sits  down  in  the  sacred 
place,  there  comes  flowing  into  her  spirit  a 


THE  SPIEITUAL  FOUNTAIN        185 

sense  of  God's  presence,  a  peace  that  she  could 
not  get  along  without.  She  says  her  spir- 
itual life  depends  upon  her  coming  here  and 
sitting  here.  Unless  one  does  drink  at  the 
fountain  while  he  is  at  the  fountain  he  loses  the 
very  best  part  of  church  life  and  church  work. 

But  I  noticed  the  great  variety  of  sizes 
which  those  water-pots  represented.  There 
were  large,  strong  women,  built  of  giant 
stock,  who  came  with  little  water-pots,  that 
would  not  hold  a  quart ;  and  there  are  thou- 
sands who  come  to  the  house  of  the  Lord 
and  to  the  fountain  of  God  now  and  go  away 
with  only  a  quart  bottle  filled.  I  heard  a 
minister  say  in  a  sermon  that  if  human  jugs 
come  for  a  small  blessing  they  get  it.  If 
they  come  for  a  large  one  they  get  that.  It 
depends  entirely  upon  the  faith  they  exercise 
when  they  start  from  home  to  go  to  the  foun- 
tain in  the  house  of  the  Lord. 

There  sat  in  this  house  a  son  who  had  left 
his  home  in  anger.  There  was  an  impress- 
iveness  about  the  place  that  he  could  not  re- 
sist. He  went  out  of  the  house  before  the 
sermon  began,  went  home  to  his  parents  and 
frankly  asked  their  forgiveness.  He  began 
his  Christian  life  because  of  the  impressive- 
ness  of  this  place  upon  him.  Other  churches 
have  the  same  impression  upon  people.     It 


186    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

is  the  fountain  for  the  sinner  to  wash  away 
his  sins. 

Last  October  an  elevator  boy  came  in  here 
and  sat  in  the  balcony,  away  back  of  the 
chorus ;  and  as  he  looked  upon  this  scene, 
which  he  had  never  visited  before,  and  saw 
the  thousands  of  faces  looking  towards  the 
organ  and  heard  the  music,  the  scene,  or  the 
spiritual  environment,  impressed  him  so 
greatly  that  he  at  once  surrendered  his  heart 
to  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  he  has  joined  the 
church.  He  came  and  drank  at  the  fountain, 
and  he  carried  away  a  heart  full  of  the  pre- 
cious, cleansing,  spiritual  inflow. 

A  daughter,  disobedient,  silly,  wild,  came 
in  here,  and  whispered,  talked  and  laughed 
during  the  service.  But  the  last  verse  of  the 
last  hymn  broke  down  her  spirit  and  she 
wept.  They  thought  she  was  ill.  She  said 
nothing.  She  went  home,  prayed  for  her- 
self, called  her  mother  aside,  and  said : 
"  Mother,  I  wish  to  be  converted."  She  was 
converted,  and  converted  by  drinking  at  the 
fountain.  Though  she  came  to  scoff,  she 
indeed  went  away  to  pray. 

How  many  a  widow  has  come  into  the 
house  of  God  with  a  heart  broken,  with  a 
flood  of  sorrow  sweeping  in  a  dark,  awful 
shadow ;    the  sense   of  absence ;  the  awful 


THE  SPIEITUAL  FOUNTAIN        187 

longing  for  affection,  for  care,  for  protection, 
for  the  sound  of  a  loving  voice,  and  the 
touch  of  a  loving  hand  !  She  has  turned 
towards  her  God  and  said,  "  Lord,  save  me 
from  this  awful  woe ! "  She  has  testified 
that  there  came  a  feeling  of  God's  actual 
sympathy,  of  Christ's  real  presence,  that 
drove  from  her  heart  forever  that  sorrow. 
She  has  drank  at  the  fountain  of  the  Lord. 

A  market  man  came  into  the  church  one 
day.  He  had  an  awful  temper,  so  much  so 
that  his  partner  had  refused  to  have  anything 
more  to  do  with  him,  and  insisted  upon  a 
dissolution  of  partnership.  He  came  to  the 
church.  He  sat  in  the  church  and  the  im- 
pressions of  the  sacred  hour  came  upon  him. 
He  went  to  his  home  and  there  read  a  chap- 
ter of  the  Bible,  and  then  meeting  his  part- 
ner he  said  to  him  :  "  I  confess  I  am  wrong. 
I  have  a  violent  temper.  I  know  I  have.  I 
don't  blame  you  at  all.  If  you  desire  to 
dissolve  the  partnership  you  may  dissolve  it ; 
but  if  you  desire,  I  will  go  on  and  promise 
you  I  will  do  better."  They  have  gone  on  as 
loving  brothers  since. 

How  many  a  drunkard  has  come  into  the 
house  of  God  and  felt  the  sin  of  his  drinking 
and  has  gone  home  to  confess  it  to  the 
family  and  turn  around  completely  ! 


188    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

I  received  a  letter  from  Manila,  from  a 
sailor  who  said  he  was  once  in  this  church. 
He  wrote  that  the  chorus  sang,  **  Though 
your  sins  be  as  scarlet  they  shall  be  as  white 
as  snow,"  and  the  song  had  followed  him 
through  the  stormy  seas,  through  calm  and 
sunshine,  all  around  the  world.  He  had 
drank  at  the  fountain. 

Wives  that  have  been  abused  have  found 
their  husbands  coming  home  from  church  in 
a  repentant  mood,  and  with  a  determination 
to  begin  as  lovers  once  more  and  live  the 
life  they  ought  to  live.  Salesmen  travelling 
over  distant  parts  of  the  country  go  into  the 
church,  drink  at  the  fountain  and  go  forth  to 
their  travels  entirely  different  in  their  ambi- 
tions, blessing  the  world  and  helping  it 
wherever  they  can.  Homeless  women  that 
live  in  boarding-houses  in  the  city,  labouring 
to  earn  a  living,  go  into  the  church.  They 
think  they  have  no  friends  in  the  city,  and 
yet  in  the  church  they  feel  that  somehow 
they  are  in  a  cheerful,  helpful,  inspiring 
atmosphere.  Teachers  go  forth  and  teach 
in  their  schoolhouses  with  fresh  life,  who 
could  not  do  it  but  for  the  church  services. 
How  many  a  churchless  minister  has  wan- 
dered into  some  church  and  has  heard  en- 
couraging words  and  felt  the  inspiring  pres- 


THE  SPIEITUAL  FOUNTAm        189 

ence  of  the  Spirit  and  gone  out  to  establish 
some  humble  mission  which  afterwards  grew 
into  some  mighty  church,  because  he  himself 
drank  from  the  fountain  I  How  many  an 
ignorant  boy  has  come  into  the  church  and 
there  has  come  to  him  there  the  desire  and 
ambition  to  become  a  strong  and  useful  man, 
and  he  has  gone  out  to  spend  his  odd  hours 
over  books  and  make  himself  a  man  instead 
of  wasting  them  in  smoking,  loafing  in  pool- 
rooms and  in  bad  society!  He  has  drank 
at  the  fountain.  How  many  Sunday-school 
teachers  teach  because  they  drank  at  the 
fountain  in  some  church  service,  and  how 
many  are  singing  in  heaven  because  they 
came  in  and  drank  in  this  church  or  in  some 
other  church  I  I  think  of  the  sainted,  the 
roll  of  which  is  now  becoming  so  large, 
whom  I  have  known  in  life  and  loved,  who 
are  now  singing  with  the  angels  of  God,  be- 
cause they  came  into  the  church  and  drank 
from  the  fountain. 

Yes,  the  church  is  a  fountain.  Brethren, 
don't  be  discouraged  ;  sisters,  don't  be  un- 
happy ;  the  church  is  stronger  than  it  ever 
was  ;  it  is  doing  more  good  than  it  ever  did, 
and  it  is  going  to  do  vastly  more  than  it  has 
ever  done.  The  world  is  full  of  hope.  You 
go   to  the   church  to  take  in  a  draught  of 


190    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

hope,  to  get  new,  fresh  Hfe,  to  obtain  an  am- 
bition that  shall  reach  forward  into  the  com- 
ing years.  The  church  has  not  done  its  best 
things  in  the  past.  It  is  going  to  do  its 
greatest  and  highest  things  in  the  future. 
What  has  been  done  for  the  sick  and  the 
poor  and  the  ignorant,  what  has  been  done 
for  the  advancement  of  the  Gospel,  is  but 
the  beginning  of  the  great  onflowing  of  the 
fountain  that  shall  forever  flow  from  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  Oh,  brethren,  let  us 
be  happy,  hopeful  and  cheerful,  trusting  in 
God,  looking  into  the  future  years  and  plan- 
ning for  the  mighty  things  yet  to  be. 

The  time  has  come  for  us  to  come  to  this 
refreshing  fountain  of  salvation  that  God  has 
set  forth  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  drink 
deep  and  go  out  stronger  for  all  the  great 
variety  of  works  which  God  gives  us  to  do. 

At  Banais,  the  source  of  the  Jordan,  I 
looked  upon  the  outflowing  of  that  river, 
directly  out  of  the  mountains.  It  comes  out 
at  one  fountain,  all  complete.  The  Jordan 
seems  as  large  at  the  fountain  as  when  it 
reaches  Merom,  or  even  the  Sea  of  Galilee. 
As  I  looked  upon  that  great  spring,  flowing 
forth  in  all  its  refreshing  power,  with  all  its 
beauty  and  glory,  I  thought  how  like  the 
spirit  of  Christ  is  that !     It  flows  unceasingly, 


THE  SPIRITUAL  FOUNTAIN        191 

and  it  has  an  unbounded  quantity  ;  it  is  inex- 
haustible ;  it  reaches  to  every  one.  All  per- 
sons, although  they  come  by  the  thousands, 
may  drink  at  that  fountain  ;  dip  all  their 
water-pots  and  fill  them  full,  and  it  would 
in  no  sense  reduce  its  waters.  So  the  springs 
of  salvation  which  are  found  in  the  Church  of 
Christ  unceasingly  flow,  free  to  all.  No  one 
drinking  deprives  any  other  one  of  a 
draught. 

Brethren  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  the 
Church  is  stronger  than  it  has  ever  been,  the 
Bible  as  true  as  it  ever  was,  Christ  as  powerful 
a  Saviour  as  He  ever  has  been  ;  and  God 
loves  you  as  much  as  He  ever  loved  any  one, 
and  the  future  is  just  as  bright  and  hopeful 
as  it  ever  was  in  the  history  of  the  Church 
or  in  the  history  of  your  life. 


XIII 

FRIENDSHIP  FOR  THE  CHURCH 

"  For  this  cause  many  are  weak  and  sickly  among  you, 
and  many  sleep."     (i  Cor.  xxx.  ii.) 

IN  the  early  church  fathers  we  find  many 
references  to  the  Christian  character 
Christ  was  supposed  to  create.  They 
speak  of  the  sevenfold  strand  which  makes 
up  the  cord  of  Christian  character,  and 
mention  that  the  strongest  thread  is  that  of 
loyalty  to  one's  friends.  The  apostle  in  his 
letter  to  the  Corinthians  calls  attention  to  the 
fact  that  they  misunderstood  the  Lord's 
Supper  ;  that  the  real  intention  of  it  was  to 
bring-  to  mind  Jesus  Christ's  sacrifice,  and 
that  instead  they  had  used  it  for  an  ordinary 
meal.  They  endeavoured  to  secure  their 
board  free  by  getting  supplies  from  the 
Lord's  table.  They  were  so  dissipated  that 
many  of  them  became  intoxicated  by  the 
amount  of  wine  which  they  drank  at  the 
Lord's  table.  This  so  disturbed  the  apostle 
that  he  told  them  that  such  an  observance 
192 


FEIENDSHIP  FOE  THE  CHUECH    193 

was  altogether  unworthy  of  so  sacred  a 
subject,  and  he  said  :  "  If  they  eat  and  drink 
that  bread  and  wine  unworthily,  they  drink 
unto  themselves  condemnation."  The  clear 
meaning,  which  is  often  misunderstood,  is 
that  they  did  not  understand  its  sacredness, 
nor  did  they  wish  to  do  so.  They  went  to 
the  Lord's  Supper  to  get  their  dinner  and  the 
wine,  and  not  to  worship  God,  and  that  was 
doing  it  unworthily.  If  a  person  were  to  go 
to  the  Lord's  Supper  now  with  no  desire  to 
appreciate  its  holiness,  or  no  purpose  of 
worshipping  God,  but  simply  to  secure  his 
board,  he  would  be  eating  and  drinking 
unworthily  under  the  form  of  expression  we 
find  in  this  letter. 

The  apostle  also  discovered  that  there 
were  divisions  among  them,  great  divisions 
over  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  he  said  to  them  : 
"  Let  every  man  examine  himself.  Don't 
let  the  church  lay  down  a  law  for  the  control 
of  every  soul  with  reference  to  the  Lord's 
Supper,  but  let  every  man  examine  himself." 
**  And  so  let  him  eat  of  that  bread  and  drink 
of  that  cup,  for  he  that  drinketh  unworthily, 
drinketh  to  himself  condemnation."  It  does 
not  condemn  the  whole  church,  and  the 
whole  church  is  not  supposed  to  be  cogni- 
zant of  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  human 


194    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

soul,  each  person  being  responsible  for  him- 
self when  he  goes  to  the  Lord's  Supper. 

That  the  Lord's  Supper  was  established 
for  sinners  and  not  for  perfect  saints  is  also 
made  particularly  clear.  If  a  person  is 
saintly  to  the  extent  of  perfection  and  cannot 
sin  any  more,  he  has  no  need  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  It  can  do  him  no  good,  for  he  is  as 
good  as  he  can  be,  anyhow.  If  a  person 
who  is  perfect  and  without  fault  goes  to  the 
Lord's  Supper  and  sits  beside  me,  a  poor, 
forlorn  sinner,  I  would  be  discouraged  by 
the  presence  of  such  a  saintly  character.  I 
hope  that  we  have  a  great  many  saintly 
characters.  We  believe  that  they  are  to  be 
found  in  the  earth,  perhaps  approaching 
perfection.  But  my  experience  in  the  church 
has  been  that  all  the  members  I  have  seen 
were  sinners.  I  have  not  yet  seen  saints  in  the 
church  who  were  so  saintly  that  they  did  not 
need  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  Lord's  Supper 
is  for  sinners  to  assist  them  to  a  more  perfect 
appreciation  of  Christ  and  a  higher  living  in 
His  name.  It  is  one  of  the  agencies  that  the 
kind  Father  in  heaven  established  for  those 
of  us  who  are  weak  and  sinful,  to  assist  us 
into  a  better  life.  That  being  the  purpose  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  they  who  are  conscious 
of  their  sinfulness,  they  who  feel  themselves 


FRIENDSHIP  FOE  THE  CHUECH    195 

unworthy  of  it,  are  the  most  worthy  ones 
who  come.  They  are  the  ones  who  should 
especially  come  when  they  feel  unworthy, 
because  it  is  to  assist  such  into  the  right 
spirit  that  the  Lord's  Supper  appears  to  have 
been  established. 

The  strands  of  Christian  character  include 
Christ's  noble  characteristic  of  loyalty  to 
one's  friends.  Christ  has  declared  that : 
*'  Whosoever  layeth  down  his  life  for  his 
friend  exhibits  the  noblest  trait  of  character, 
for  greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this,  that 
he  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friend." 

There  are  two  classes  of  people  found  in 
every  church,  and  have  been  ever  since  the 
time  of  Christ,  and  it  is  into  one  of  these 
divisions  we  all  go.  There  are  a  great  many 
people  in  every  church  who  are  weak  and 
sickly,  and  who  sleep.  They  are  not  un- 
christian, they  are  not  unbelievers,  they  are 
not  heretics,  but  they  are  acquiescent,  they 
are  latent,  they  are  not  active  in  the  cause  of 
the  church.  We  should  not  seek  to  be  in 
that  class  of  latent  believers,  but  to  belong  to 
the  other  class  of  watching  believers.  There 
are  just  as  many  martyr-like  spirits  to-day 
as  ever  in  the  world,  perhaps  a  great  many 
more.  A  great  many  men  would  go  up  to 
the  stake,  deliberately,  to  be  tied  there  and 


196    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

burned  to  death,  if  they  had  the  same 
excitement,  or  the  same  cause,  or  the  same 
purpose  which  characterized  the  martyrs 
of  old.  I  think  there  are  many  people 
belonging  to  every  church  who  show  no 
disposition  to  take  any  part  in  its  work,  who, 
if  there  came  an  extreme  call  like  that  to  the 
early  martyrs,  would  immediately  be  found 
in  the  front  rank.  It  is  a  surprising  thing  to 
find  how  many  noble  characters  there  are 
buried  underneath  the  folds  of  society,  how 
many  grand  martyrs  who  have  never  been 
called  upon,  seemingly,  to  make  a  sacrifice. 
Cranmer,  who  was  burned  at  the  stake  in 
England,  and  who  was  one  of  the  chief  advisers 
of  Henry  VIH,  was  a  very  vacillating  man,  a 
cowardly  man,  seemingly.  He  was  full  of 
all  kinds  of  subtlety  and  assisted  the  king  in  a 
great  many  of  his  divorce  cases,  his  quarrels 
with  the  Pope,  with  the  people  of  England, 
and  with  the  officials,  in  ways  that  are  subject 
to  severe  criticism,  and  some  even  to  utter 
condemnation.  For  my  part  I  think  Cranmer 
must  have  been  a  very  faulty  individual,  a 
public  official  who  did  not  understand  his 
duty,  or  was  untrue  to  the  people.  Yet  that 
man,  with  all  his  faulty  history,  with  all 
his  vacillating  character,  when  the  time 
came  for  him  to  decide  whether  he  would 


FEIENDSHIP  FOR  THE  CHUECH    197 

retract  what  he  believed  and  what  he  had 
said,  or  be  burned  at  the  stake,  said  :  "  I  will 
go  to  the  stake."  The  offer  was  made  re- 
peatedlyp  that  if  he  would  take  back  his 
declaration  of  what  he  believed  concerning 
the  Church  of  Christ,  he  could  not  only  go 
free  but  hold  official  position  under  the 
queen ;  but  he  still  resisted  and  went  so  far 
as  to  put  out  his  hand  into  the  blazing  fire 
because  it  had  once  signed  a  document  that 
he  felt  was  untrue,  and  he  burned  to  his 
death  with  all  the  stolid  bravery  of  the  noblest 
of  the  martyrs  of  the  middle  ages.  There  are 
in  the  church  to-day  men  who  seem  to  be 
vacillating,  whose  characters  are  full  of  in- 
consistencies, who,  if  the  call  was  actually 
made  as  a  question  of  life  or  death,  would  go 
to  the  stake  as  bravely  as  Cranmer  did. 

But  the  thought  that  I  wish  to  urge  upon 
you  is  that  it  is  a  mistake,  if  not  a  great  sin, 
to  belong  to  the  uncertain  class  of  people. 
The  church  is  divided  into  an  active  mem- 
bership and  an  inactive  membership.  All 
churches  throughout  the  world  have  a  list  of 
both  inactive  and  active  members  which  they 
print  for  public  observation.  But  I  am 
speaking  of  a  spiritual  division  of  the  church 
into  active  and  inactive  members,  and  not  of 
matters  recorded  in  the  books  of  the  church. 


198    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

Loyalty  to  one's  friends  is  an  indication  of 
true  friendship,  and  that  loyalty  is  displayed 
in  its  very  best  form  with  reference  to  the 
Church  of  Christ.  We  read  in  the  writings 
of  David :  "  How  happy  are  they  that  are 
loyal  to  Jerusalem.  If  I  forget  thee,  oh 
Jerusalem,  may  my  right  hand  forget 
its  cunning  and  my  tongue  cleave  to  the 
roof  of  my  mouth."  To  be  loyal  to  one's 
friends  is  to  be  loyal  to  one's  city,  to  one's 
nation,  to  one's  God,  and  it  is  represented  by 
the  church  fathers  as  the  very  best  evidence 
of  salvation  and  as  the  highest  tribute  to  the 
spirit  which  Christ  gives  to  man.  Often- 
times we  find  this  in  very  practical  illustra- 
tions in  life.  It  has  occurred  scores  of  times 
that  men  writing  concerning  some  member 
of  the  church  whom  they  desire  to  employ 
have  said :  '*  Is  he  loyal  to  his  church  ? " 
They  want  to  know  if  that  is  in  his  character, 
if  that  is  part  of  his  make-up,  if  when  he 
promises  to  do  a  thing  he  does  it.  Industrial 
companies  seek  that  information.  It  is  in 
the  printed  blanks  of  three  of  the  largest  of 
the  great  commercial  firms  of  Philadelphia  : 
*'  Is  he  loyal  to  his  church  ?  "  It  is  all  be- 
cause that  character  commands  the  respect 
of  business  men,  and  secures  the  confidence 
of     those     carrying     on    great    enterprises. 


FEIENDSHIP  FOE  THE  CHUECH    199 

Recently  a  young  lady  wrote  to  me  concern- 
ing a  member  of  the  church,  "  Is  he  loyal  to 
his  church  ?  "  She  said  :  **  I  want  to  know 
more  about  him  than  I  know  now.  He  is 
keeping  company  with  me  and  I  desire  to  be 
sure  that  his  character  is  upright  and  trust- 
worthy. Is  he  loyal  to  his  church  ?  " — one 
of  the  most  proper  and  natural  questions  to 
ask  if  she  wishes  to  ascertain  the  real 
character  of  the  person  with  whom  she  is 
associating.  Only  a  short  time  ago  the  War 
Department  at  Washington  wrote  to  me 
concerning  a  member  of  this  church.  He 
was  in  Panama,  and  had  applied  for  an 
official  position  of  considerable  prominence, 
and  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  War  wrote 
to  me  asking  the  same  question :  *'  Does 
he  keep  up  his  church  duties  ? "  In  his 
application  they  had  read  that  he  was  a 
member  of  this  church.  So  among  high 
and  low  everywhere,  this  loyalty  of  a 
person  to  his  word,  to  his  friends,  to  his 
church,  or  his  city,  or  his  nation,  is  con- 
sidered to  be  one  of  the  best  traits  of  human 
living. 

To  be  loyal  to  Jesus  Christ  we  ought  to  be 
loyal  to  the  church,  and  it  requires  more  than 
a  mere  nominal  connection  with  it.  To  be 
loyal,    even  though  the  principles  to  which 


200    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

we  are  loyal  are  different  from  those  in  which 
others  believe,  is  often  evidence  of  a  high  char- 
acter. There  came  into  my  house  last  week 
a  lady  from  North  Carolina,  from  the  town 
where  I  was  stationed  in  the  great  Civil  War. 
In  that  town  there  lived  an  old  man,  a  native 
of  North  Carolina,  and  his  house  was  respected 
by  officers  who  frequently  visited  there.  I 
went  in  often  to  read  in  his  library.  The  sol- 
diers did  not  rob  or  destroy,  and  that  man 
was  known  to  be  loyal  to  the  state  of  North 
Carolina  and  disloyal,  in  that  sense,  to  the 
Union  of  the  States.  But  he  was  so  upright 
about  it,  his  character  was  so  established, 
that  he  was  respected  by  the  enemies  of  his 
people,  and  we  went  back  and  forth  with  the 
fair  understanding  that  we  knew  his  position. 
Should  I  meet  him,  if  he  is  living  now,  I  would 
have  a  profound  respect  for  the  loyalty  of  the 
man  to  his  state,  to  his  people  and  to  his  city. 
It  is  a  characteristic  which  in  itself  commands 
the  admiration  of  mankind  and  the  favour  of 
God. 

When  Frederick  IV  died  in  1861  and 
William  I  came  in,  the  new  emperor  was 
told  of  Bismarck,  who  was  then  the  national 
representative  at  the  court  of  Russia,  and  the 
emperor  said  :  **  I  dislike  that  man.  He  does 
not  advocate  the  cause  in  which  I  believe. 


FEIEKDSHIP  FOE  THE  CHUECH    201 

He  has  nothing  about  him  that  seems  con- 
genial to  me  ;  I  want  nothing  to  do  with  him." 
But  one  of  his  counsellors  said  to  him  :  **  You 
dislike  him  because  he  is  so  loyal  to  your 
predecessor.  He  is  known  everywhere  as 
being  in  favour  of  the  emperor  who  is  dead. 
Vv^ould  not  it  be  of  value  for  you  to  have  a 
friend  like  that  ?  Would  not  Bismarck  be  of 
great  use  to  you  if  he  were  to  be  as  loyal  to 
you  as  he  is  to  your  predecessor  ?  "  **  But," 
said  William  I,  "  he  is  too  loyal  to  him  to  be 
loyal  to  me."  "  No,"  said  the  counsellor,  **  a 
man  having  that  open  disposition  and  that 
iron  character  can  be  loyal  to  more  than 
one,  and  you  can  make  him  loyal  to  you." 
William  I  sent  for  Bismarck  ;  sat  down  and 
had  a  free  talk  with  him  ;  told  him  he  did 
not  believe  in  many  of  the  things  he  did,  but 
said  he :  "I  admire  your  loyalty  to  your 
friend."  That  won  Bismarck  over  to  Will- 
iam I.  He  became  the  great  leader  of 
Germany.  He  united  Germany.  He  won 
in  the  great  battles  against  France  and 
William  I  became  the  emperor  of  all  Ger- 
many, because  he  had  been  wise  enough 
to  take  into  his  counsel  a  man  who  was  loyal 
to  some  one  else,  and  who,  being  loyal  to 
some  one  else,  would  be  loyal  to  him.  When 
William   II  came  in  and  refused   to  do  the 


202    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

same  thing,  he  made  the  great  mistake  of  his 
imperial  life. 

A  man  who  owned  a  mine  suddenly 
thought  of  the  old  folks  at  home,  and  his  first 
thought  was  to  send  them  a  sum  of  money. 
Then  he  decided  to  go  on  to  look  over  the 
ground  himself  and  get  for  them  the  things 
they  needed.  He  went  with  the  money  and 
expended  it  himself,  raised  the  old  home- 
stead, covered  it  with  new  shingles,  laid  out 
the  ground  in  front  of  the  house,  he  supplied 
all  that  was  needed  and  restored  the  old 
furniture  they  had  used  for  fifty  years.  He 
put  himself  into  that  active  list  of  loyal  sons 
who  give  themselves  with  their  money. 
There  are  so  many  people  who  give  their 
money  and  don't  give  themselves — who  do 
not  give  their  prayers,  or  their  time,  or  their 
personal  attention  to  it.  They  belong  to  this 
class  that  are  asleep,  to  those  who  are  weak 
and  sickly  in  the  church.  So  it  is  important 
before  we  sit  at  the  Lord's  table  that  we  all 
take  into  mind  this  very  important  exhorta- 
tion of  the  apostle,  that  we  get  out  of  that 
class  of  the  sickly,  of  the  weak  and  those  who 
are  asleep,  and  that  we  put  ourselves  into  the 
active  class  of  loyal  members  of  the  church 
who  find  some  work  to  do  and  enter  upon  it 
with  all  their  heart.     They  are  of  more  use  to 


FRIENDSHIP  FOR  THE  CHURCH    203 

the  church  than  the  mere  added  name  upon 
the  church  list. 

To  find  work  to  do  is  really  a  Christian 
trait — to  find  something  to  do  for  those  in 
need — not  waiting  to  be  called  upon,  but 
seeking  out  places  and  opportunities.  This 
is  a  characteristic  of  success  in  men  and 
women  in  any  line  of  life,  but  especially  is  it 
so  in  the  church.  In  a  great  church  with 
many  members,  it  is  very  easy  to  be  lost,  very 
easy  to  be  overlooked,  to  get  into  the  back- 
ground and  sink  from  society,  unless  one 
have  the  determination  to  be  loyal  to  the 
church  in  its  activities,  to  be  loyal  to  Christ 
and  to  keep  all  His  commandments.  Christ 
says  unto  all :  "  Watch."  "  Again  I  say  unto 
you,  watch."  **  Work  for  the  night  is  com- 
ing." The  church  should  be  a  help  to  those 
who  desire  to  be  of  service  to  the  Master, 
and  so  I  say.  Get  out  of  the  class  of  those 
who  sleep.  Leave  the  class  of  the  sickly  and 
the  weak  and  find  something  to  do  for  Christ 
in  connection  with  the  church.  Only  when 
you  are  in  the  active  list  can  you  derive  the 
benefits  which  the  church  is  intended  to 
confer.  A  full,  happy  life  as  a  Christian  is  a 
life  of  positive  activity,  where  there  is  plenty 
to  do.  Oh,  so  much  is'  left  undone  !  No 
person  need  be  without  Christian  work,  and 


204    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

if  he  will  but  set  himself  about  it  he  will  not 
only  serve  the  Lord  in  accordance  with  God's 
commandments,  but  find  in  himself  a  well  of 
joy  springing  up  into  the  beauty  of  a  fountain 
of  everlasting  life.  Blessed  it  is  to  belong  to 
the  church  if  one  is  an  active  member,  living 
a  loyal  life  every  day,  seeking  out  something 
to  do  for  the  church.  That  means  that 
humanity,  through  the  opportunities  which 
the  church  furnishes,  will  be  blessed.  No 
man  can  live  as  devoutly  outside  the  church 
as  he  can  on  the  inside.  There  are  no  oppor- 
tunities to-day  in  the  world  such  as  there  are 
in  the  church,  and  it  is  easier  to  love,  easier 
to  do  and  much  more  can  be  accomplished  if 
one  is  a  member  of  the  church  than  if  he  is 
not.  If  he  be  a  sinner,  let  him  seek  the 
church  and  its  activities,  for  it  is  dangerous 
to  come  into  the  church  and  do  nothing.  It 
is  dangerous  to  be  merely  a  nominal  member 
of  the  organization  ;  but  to  get  into  it  and  find 
something  to  do  and  set  one's  self  at  it  and  be 
found  doing  it,  or  to  be  ready  when  Christ 
comes  and  be  found  engaged  in  His  work,  to 
be  on  the  watch  when  the  Master  appears,  is 
the  highest  ambition  of  a  poor  and  righteous 
Christian  soul. 


XIV 

I  SHALL  BE  SATISFIED 

"  Now  are  we  the  children  of  God,  and  it  doth  not 
yet  appear  what  we  shall  be  ;  but  we  know  when  He 
doth  appear,  we  shall  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him 
as  He  is,  and  he  that  hath  this  hope  in  him  maketh  him- 
self pure."     (z  John  in.  2,  J.) 

IN  the  beginning  of  their  Christian  life 
many  are  surprised  that  the  Bible  is 
so  obscure  in  its  references  to  heaven. 
Often  great  scholars  who  have  not  given  the 
subject  much  careful  thought  have  criticized 
the  Scripture  for  having  said  something 
about  heaven,  and  having  left  its  description 
for  the  imagination  of  each  individual. 

You  may  well  ask  why  this  is  so  hidden, 
why  the  full  revelation  is  not  given ;  why  we 
do  not  know  just  where  heaven  is,  or  just 
what  it  is,  or  just  how  we  are  to  enter  it,  and 
just  what  is  to  occur  in  the  ages  to  be.  You 
may  well  wonder,  and  ask  the  question  why. 
But  it  appears  to  be  clearly  shown  in  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Bible  that  we  are  placed  in  this 
w^orld  of  God  for  the  purpose  of  discipline, 
training  and  teaching,  so  that  we  shall  be  fit 
for  certain  heavenly  duties  when  our  life  on 
205 


206    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

this  earth  is  finished.  Now  we  are  at  school 
in  this  world,  and  Christ  is  the  schoolmaster, 
and  we  are  here  more  for  the  discipline  of 
mind,  and  discipline  of  the  soul,  than  for  any 
information  that  we  can  obtain. 

If  heaven  was  so  near  as  to  blind  our  eye- 
sight with  its  brilliancy  it  would  injure  us 
greatly.  Or  if  hell  were  so  near  that  the 
fumes  of  its  fires  could  be  smelled ;  if  we 
could  realize  what  an  awful  thing  hell  is ;  if 
we  were  told  that  it  were  a  literal  fire,  as  it 
is  not ;  if  we  were  told  it  is  such  a  place  of 
suffering  as  many  have  described  it  to  be  in 
their  imagination,  it  would  frighten  us  all  out 
of  any  happiness  in  this  life. 

We  know  by  what  we  understand,  by  our 
own  constitution,  that  we  cannot  be  driven 
into  goodness,  neither  can  we  be  bribed  into 
it.  The  father  who  bribes  his  son  continually 
to  get  him  to  do  right  soon  finds  that  he  has 
educated  that  son  into  hypocrisy,  into  con- 
cealment, and  damaged  his  character  beyond 
measure.  The  father  cannot  win  the  love  of 
his  son  by  buying  it.  Neither  can  he  win 
the  love  of  his  son  by  force  of  cruel  chastise- 
ment. It  is  opposite  to  our  nature  thus  to 
be  influenced,  and  if  God  is  giving  us  the  op- 
portunity here  to  be  trained  into  the  likeness 
of  His  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  He  will  neither  bribe 


SHALL  BE  SATISFIED  207 

us  nor  frighten  us,  and  hence  both  heaven  and 
hell  are  obscured.  For  that  reason  He  only 
mentions  them  as  great  facts,  but  facts  about 
which  He  gives  us  no  very  near  view.  How 
foolish  people  have  been  who  have  described 
hell  as  a  literal  fire.  How  foolish  those  en- 
thusiasts have  been  who  have  described  the 
details  of  what  they  think  they  have  seen  of 
heaven,  when  God  would  not  have  been  so 
unkind  as  to  give  them  either  a  near  view  of 
heaven,  or  a  near  view  of  hell. 

We  are  here  to  be  trained  to  love  God. 
We  are  here  to  be  left  to  our  own  accord 
within  certain  great  providential  limitations, 
in  order  that  we  may  be  tempted  to  do 
wrong,  or  drawn  to  do  right,  and  have  free 
choice  between  those  extremes.  For  in 
choosing  we  make  our  characters,  and  fit 
ourselves  for  heavenly  places. 

It  is  not  stretching  the  imagination  to  sup- 
pose that  God  is  training  up  here  on  earth 
angels  to  fill  the  seats  and  missions  of  the 
angels  that  fell  in  that  far-back  day,  nearer 
the  creation  than  we  are.  If  w^e  are  being 
fitted  for  His  service  we  must  love  Him  for 
love's  sake.  We  must  love  Him  for  His 
sake.  We  must  love  Him  for  truth's  sake. 
We  must  have  character  and  independence, 
and  we  must  go  through  the  discipline  of 


208    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

this  world  for  the  sake  of  producing  that 
character. 

But  of  the  character  of  the  life  beyond  this 
we  do  get  certain  broad  statements,  about 
which  there  need  be  no  controversy.  Let 
me  bring  you,  if  I  can,  to  a  realizing  sense 
of  how  much  the  Bible  does  say  concerning 
the  things  that  are  in  the  spirit  land,  and  in 
the  spirit  world. 

I  stood  for  the  first  time  upon  the  Rigi,  in 
the  Alps,  and  looked  down  upon  the  lakes, 
and  away  upon  the  distant  peaks  of  the  white 
Alps,  and  then  turned  in  the  early  morning 
light,  and  looked  down  upon  the  course  of 
the  Rhine,  as  it  went  winding  its  way  down 
to  the  sea  and  far  out,  for  fifty  miles,  over 
the  great  and  beautiful  plain.  There  were 
cities  here  and  there,  villages  in  one  place 
and  little  hamlets  in  another,  palaces  to  be 
seen  on  the  hillsides,  and  fountains  flashing 
in  the  coming  of  the  sun,  and  there  the  wind- 
ing stream,  going  on  its  everlasting  pace  as 
Tennyson  so  wonderfully  describes  it.  As  I 
stood  in  that  morning  light  and  looked  out 
upon  that  land,  I  said  to  myself,  "  I  will  buy 
a  ticket  that  will  cover  all  this  territory.  I 
will  visit  all  this.  I  will  go  down  first  to  the 
Falls  of  SchafEhausen  then  go  down  to  Stras- 
burg,  and  down  to  the  sea,  and  come  up 


I  SHALL  BE  SATISFIED  209 

around  Germany,  and  from  there  into  Aus- 
tria, and  all  the  boundaries  within  my  vision 
I  am  going  to  visit.  I  will  make  my  home 
with  the  poor,  and  know  just  how  the  peas- 
antry of  the  German  land  live,  and  try  to  get 
introductions  into  palaces  of  the  princes  that 
I  can  describe  them  in  a  newspaper  or  maga- 
zine." All  the  ambitions  to  visit  all  that 
view  were  before  me  on  that  morning  at 
Rigi. 

So  a  young  man  or  woman  stands  upon 
the  mountains  of  youth  and  looks  forward 
into  life,  and  the  vision  covers  all  these  many 
things.  Oh,  the  beautiful  visions  of  youth, 
gazing  out  upon  the  possibilities  of  life ! 
There  are  rivers  and  fountains,  there  is 
magnificent  scenery.  There  is  hope ;  there 
is  wealth  ;  there  is  life ;  there  is  fame  ;  there 
is  success.  The  youth  pictures  the  time 
when  he  shall  have  millions  of  money  to 
travel  around  the  wide  world,  and  see  all  the 
glories  of  which  he  has  heard  only  in  hints. 
He  looks  forward  to  the  time  when  he  shall 
have  his  own  sweet  home,  when  he  shall  sit 
by  his  own  fireside,  when  his  wife  shall  be 
there  and  children  will  be  prattling  about  the 
floor.  He  pictures  the  time  when  through 
many  years  of  health  and  strength  he  shall 
walk  the  earth  an  independent  being,  and 


210    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

he  looks  forward  to  the  beauty  of  it,  looks 
forward  to  fame  and  glory.  He  is  on  Rigi's 
heights,  looking  out  on  the  dazzling  beauty 
of  what  it  is  possible  yet  to  be. 

But  the  years  have  gone.  Some  of  the 
places  in  that  wonderful  scene  I  visited,  but 
the  number  could  be  counted  on  my  fingers. 
Still  the  vision  is  there. 

There  stood  beside  me  once  on  the  mag- 
nificent Mount  Viso,  the  highest  mountain 
of  the  Western  Alps,  a  man  eighty  years  of 
age,  and  when  he  looked  around  on  it,  he 
said,  ''  It  is  the  most  wonderful  thing  I  have 
ever  seen.  I  am  glad  I  saw  it  before  I  died." 
He  saw  it  going  down  the  mountain,  and 
when  we  helped  him  over  the  cold  snow  and 
ice,  and  over  the  glaciers,  until  his  feet  were 
on  the  solid  ground  of  the  valley  that  leads 
into  Italy  ;  and  when  we  parted  from  him,  he 
said,  "  I  shall  never,  never  see  it  again." 

No  visions  of  life  seem  to  be  complete. 
The  youth  goes  through  his  history  and  may 
have  found  no  millions  of  money,  and  may 
not  have  travelled  beyond  his  own  native  vil- 
lage ;  may  have  had  no  home ;  may  have 
had  but  little  education ;  may  have  been  an 
invalid  all  his  life ;  may  have  had  no  baby 
upon  his  knee ;  may  have  had  no  wife  to  sit 
by  his  fireside. 


I  SHALL  BE  SATISFIED  211 

My  attention  was  called  the  other  day  to 
the  fact  that  one  of  our  soldiers  from  my 
native  town  was  buried  near  Norfolk  during 
that  great  Civil  War,  and  that  the  grave  was 
unmarked  even  by  a  gravestone,  though  it 
was  known  by  the  register  of  the  cemetery ; 
and  it  called  to  my  mind  the  fact  that  I  saw 
him,  when  we  marched  away  from  Massa- 
chusetts, bid  a  tender  and  heart-breaking 
farewell  to  her  who  was  to  be  his  wife  when 
he  returned  from  the  war.  She  is  living  still, 
alone.  They  were  engaged  to  be  married ; 
they  had  corresponded  for  nearly  two  years. 
Then  came  the  battle,  and  then  the  death, 
and  all  that  she  heard  was  that  he  was  killed 
in  battle ;  but  who  cared  for  him  in  his  last 
hours  she  never  knew.  Who  heard  his  last 
words  she  could  not  tell ;  the  last  letter  she 
received  from  him,  he  was  in  health  and  am- 
bitious for  the  closing  of  the  war.  I  see  her 
sometimes.  She  does  not  know  what  a 
reverence  is  in  my  heart  for  her.  She  desired 
to  have  a  home,  husband,  children.  Her 
heart  is  sweet  and  Christian.  She  is  re- 
signed to  the  way  of  God  with  her,  but  if 
you  were  to  ask  her  what  life  has  been  to 
her,  she  would  say,  "  A  perpetual  disappoint- 
ment." 

I  look  back  upon  life  as  you  do,  if  you  are 


212    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

seventy  years  of  age,  with  the  thought  of 
how  little  you  have  seen  compared  with 
what  you  expected  to  see. 

I  remember  when  in  college,  we  studied 
very  closely  the  scientific  view  then  coming 
into  vogue,  Darwin's  theory  of  the  creation, 
the  evolution  of  all  things  from  unknown 
protoplasm,  from  a  potency  hidden  far  back 
in  creation.  When  we  grew  excited  in  the  de- 
bates over  it  we  thought  that  we  should  live 
to  see  the  time  when  it  would  all  be  explained 
by  science,  and  that  we  should  know  then 
how  the  world  began.  We  should  be  ac- 
quainted with  all  the  details  of  its  develop- 
ment. We  would  be  certain  of  finding  the 
missing  link,  and  all  things  would  be  as  plain 
as  the  primer  to  the  man  who  looked  upon 
the  sciences.  I  have  lived  many  years  since 
those  college  days,  and  I  am  no  nearer 
understanding  what  I  remember  of  it,  indeed 
I  am  more  in  the  mystery  than  then. 

I  remember  looking  through  a  great  tele- 
scope upon  Mars,  and  it  brought  it  so  near. 
There  seemed  to  be  the  mountains,  and  val- 
leys, and  even  the  sparkling  of  water,  and 
while  we  could  not  see  men  on  it,  we  felt  men 
must  be  living  there,  having  the  same  atmos- 
phere as  we  have  here,  and  the  same  sort  of 
protection  in  every  way.     And  I  thought  as 


I  SHALL  BE  SATISFIED  213 

I  looked  through  the  telescope — "  I  shall 
probably  live  to  see  a  telescope  so  large  and 
powerful  that  we  will  actually  see  the  people 
in  their  labour  in  the  fields,  and  the  villages 
and  cities,  upon  Mars."  I  have  so  longed  to 
see  it.  It  has  been  a  dream  of  my  Hfe  to 
look  through  to  the  distant  worlds  on  worlds 
and  see  what  God  had  made  there,  and  what 
men  and  women  were  doing  there.  But  I 
have  not  seen  it. 

I  remember  going  as  a  newspaper  man  to 
meetings  of  the  Spiritualists,  and  to  the  Eth- 
ical Culturists,  and  to  all  the  great  variety  of 
fads  then  in  Boston,  so  numberless  it  is  use- 
less to  recite  them.  To  one  after  the  other 
I  went  to  write  of  them  for  the  newspapers, 
and  I  became  very  much  interested  in  the 
mysterious  things  which  they  did,  in  the 
ability  of  the  clairvoyant  to  read  my  mind, 
and  though  an  entire  stranger,  to  tell  what  I 
was  thinking  about.  They  told  me  about 
my  own  history  until  I  wished  they  had  not 
told  so  much  in  the  presence  of  my  friends. 
I  became  astonished  that  a  man  could  read 
thus  the  heart  and  mind  of  another  person. 
I  longed  to  know  more  about  what  the  soul 
is  and  what  its  relation  is  to  the  body,  and 
what  our  soul  relation  is  to  each  other. 

I  remember  visiting  a  most  wonderful  ex- 


214    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

hibition  of  telepathy,  by  which  a  man  in  an- 
other room  wrote  down  there  without  any 
possible  chance  of  collusion,  and  with  the 
variation  of  only  a  few  words,  my  own  writ- 
ing at  the  same  time. 

I  have  waited  for  the  development  of  the 
years,  in  order  to  get  nearer,  nearer  to  the 
spirit  world  ;  to  know  what  is  this  mysterious 
influence  that  comes  over  from  the  other  side 
to  this,  and  which  I  know  goes  from  this  to 
the  other.  Loved  ones  one  after  another 
have  dropped  aside,  and  their  bodies  have 
been  laid  away,  and  the  longing  has  in- 
creased and  increased.  Oh,  to  communicate 
with  them,  to  get  some  message  from  them, 
to  know  that  they  love  me  still,  and  to  let 
them  know  I  love  them  still,  deeper  and 
more  faithfully  than  when  they  were  on  the 
earth  !  Oh,  the  yearning  to  communicate,  to 
know  what  is  the  connection  between  this 
world  and  the  spirit  world  ! 

But  the  years  have  unrolled  their  history, 
and  it  is  just  as  mysterious  now  as  it  was 
then.  No  one  seems  better  able  to  explain 
than  then. 

When  I  was  converted  to  Christ,  the  Bible 
assumed  an  entirely  new  phase  to  me.  It 
was  a  spiritual  Book,  it  was  transfigured  and 
illuminated.     There  were  many  things  in  it 


I  SHALL  BE  SATISFIED  215 

that  before  had  seemed  contradictory.  I 
could  not  help  finding  a  longing  in  my  heart 
to  know  what  they  were  put  there  for.  But 
while  year  after  year  has  developed  my  in- 
terpretations, while  nearly  all  the  contradic- 
tions have  disappeared  to  my  satisfaction, 
yet  the  book  itself  remains  a  greater,  greater 
mystery. 

What  is  it  that  influences  a  man  from  this 
book  as  from  no  other  ?  What  is  it  that  in- 
fluenced men  to  write  the  life  of  Christ  in  the 
way  they  did  ?  How  could  they  have  done 
it  at  that  time  ?  The  most  miraculous  thing 
save  Christ  Himself  is  the  record  the  apostles 
have  written  of  His  life  and  His  teaching. 
So  simple  ;  so  truthful ;  so  natural ;  so  ad- 
justed to  circumstances ;  so  true  to  history ; 
and  yet  the  mystery  of  how  it  was  done  re- 
mains, deepening  with  every  year.  I  do  not 
understand. 

I  thought  some  day  I  should  answer  the 
question  how  sin  came  into  the  world — why 
it  came.  But  while  we  do  catch  a  glimpse, 
as  stated  in  the  beginning,  of  the  fact  that 
sin  is  left  in  the  world,  and  temptation  is 
here  for  the  purpose  of  disciplining  us,  yet  it 
is  only  a  glimpse.  I  had  that  vision  years 
ago.  I  have  no  deeper  or  wider  one  now. 
It  is  a  mystery  still.     Why  for  the  good  of 


216    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

mankind  should  sin,  evil,  Satan  and  the 
angels  of  Satan  be  around  us  ? 

Oh,  the  books  I  have  thought  I  should 
read  !  The  inability  to  use  my  eyes  as  I  wish 
has  made  me  pass  the  shelves  of  my  library 
with  an  indescribable  longing  and  sense  of 
disappointment.  There  are  shelves  and 
shelves  of  books,  bought  at  various  times. 
When  I  saw  a  title  that  was  to  my  taste,  I 
said,  "  I  will  buy  that  book.  It  will  do  me 
good.  It  will  help  my  people,  if  I  can  read 
it."  So  I  took  that  book  home,  put  it  on  the 
shelf  among  the  new  books,  and  the  shelf 
kept  filling  up  with  unread  books.  Then  an- 
other shelf,  and  then  another.  I  now  go 
through  that  library  and  glance  at  those  titles 
and  wish  I  had  time  to  read  them  and  digest 
them  ;  and  the  awful  thought  is  ever  present, 
"  I  shall  never  read  them."  Thousands  of 
books  that  would  be  so  instructive  and  in- 
spiring, I  shall  never,  never  read. 

I  thought  once  that  I  would  delight  to  sing 
as  the  angels  sing,  that  I  would  like  to  have 
the  power  that  Jenny  Lind  had.  Oh,  how 
exquisitely  simple  was  that  nightingale  of 
song  1  What  entire  absence  there  was  of 
display,  of  the  unnatural,  how  plain  was  all 
her  expression,  and  how  clear  her  voice,  and 
how   delightfully   lovely   were   her  feminine 


I  SHALL  BE  SATISFIED  217 

ways  1  When  I  heard  her  sing  in  Music  Hall 
in  Boston,  I  said,  "  I  will  devote  myself  to 
music.  I  will  learn  to  sing  and  learn  to 
play,"  and  yet  now  I  know  I  shall  never  sing 
like  that.     I  am  sure  now  that  it  is  too  late. 

I  thought  once  that  I  would  like  to  lecture 
over  the  known  earth,  to  visit  every  land  and 
speak  in  every  tongue,  and  that  I  would 
devote  myself  for  years  to  the  study  of  lan- 
guages in  order  that  I  might  lecture  or  give 
addresses  in  French,  Italian,  Spanish  and 
German.  But  save  in  England  and  China  it 
never  came.  The  opportunities  never  came, 
and  never  will. 

I  have  thought  as  I  heard  discussions  be- 
tween talented  men  of  great  leadership  in 
the  sciences  to  which  they  are  attached, 
*'  How  much  they  know  that  I  do  not  know. 
How  much  they  have  had  an  opportunity  to 
learn  which  I  shall  never  learn,"  and  I  sat 
in  humility  in  the  presence  of  the  great 
geniuses  of  science,  and  thought  what 
wonders  of  joy  they  must  possess  to  know 
so  much  that  I  shall  never  know  I 

I  have  longed  and  longed  to  see  Christ  on 
the  earth  fulfilling  every  mission,  and  to  see 
all  people  truly  Christian.  I  have  desired 
that  each  should  be  better  than  I  have  ever 
been.     I  have  desired  to  see  an  ideal  church, 


218    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

in  which  every  person  would  be  an  ideal  fol- 
lower of  Jesus  Christ.  I  do  not  expect  to 
see  it.  Perfection  is  not  coming,  evidently, 
in  my  day,  or  my  time.  Many  are  weak  in 
the  faith,  it  may  be,  and  some,  perhaps, 
hypocritical.  All  have  a  measure  of  it,  in 
some  degree,  and  there  is  no  perfect  church, 
and  there  are  not  perfect  people  in  it.  I 
have  often  thought  if  there  were  they  would 
destroy  the  church,  through  the  discouraging 
influence  they  would  have  on  the  rest  of  us. 
I  do  not  expect  any  more  that  mankind  will 
be  perfect.  I  am  training  myself,  as  you  are, 
to  look  on  the  good  in  men  and  to  overlook 
and  forget  their  faults. 

But  what  says  this  Book  ?  "  Eye  hath  not 
seen  nor  ear  heard,  neither  hath  it  entered 
into  the  heart  of  man  the  things  that  the 
Lord  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love 
Him.^'  Is  that  a  message  from  God  ?  And 
does  He  not  say,  ''  I  shall  be  satisfied,  when 
I  awake  in  His  likeness  "  ?  What  a  message 
to  a  disappointed  world  !  Does  He  not  say 
in  His  parable  of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus 
that  Lazarus  was  carried  by  angels  to 
Abraham's  bosom  and  that  he  had  all  the 
good  things  made  up  for  him  which  he  lost 
when  he  was  on  the  earth  ?  And  does  He 
not  in  the  text  I  have  quoted  say  we  shall  be 


I  SHALL  BE  SATISFIED  219 

like  Him  with  all  His  divine  wisdom ;  with 
all  His  knowledge  of  the  past  and  all  His 
knowledge  of  the  future ;  with  all  His  divine 
power  to  take  in  every  thought  and  every 
scene  and  every  detail  ? 

If  we  shall  be  like  Him  we  shall  see  Him, 
and  we  shall  see  all  things  as  they  are.  We 
shall  be  like  Him.  Ah,  then,  let  the  imagina- 
tion expand  ;  picture  heaven  to  be  what  you 
will.  No  matter  what  you  have  missed  in 
this  life,  you  will  have  it  in  the  other  life. 
People  say  to  me,  "Would  you  expect  to 
have  a  piano  in  heaven  ? "  "  Would  you 
wish  to  have  a  church  in  heaven  ?  "  "  Would 
you  wish  to  do  this,  that,  or  the  other  ?  "  It 
does  not  make  any  difference  what  you  want 
in  heaven  ;  you  will  have  it.  The  statement 
is  broad  and  clear,  and  it  is  unmistakable, 
"  You  shall  be  satisfied,  when  you  awake  in 
His  likeness."  To  be  satisfied  is  to  have  all 
we  want,  and  consequently  if  you  do  not  get 
a  literal  piano,  if  you  do  not  have  the  kind 
of  association  exactly,  literally,  you  will  have 
that  which  takes  its  place  in  a  more  satisfac- 
tory form.  But  what  difference  does  it  make 
how  we  let  the  imagination  go  ?  Since  I 
read  this  a  day  or  two  ago,  I  have  let  my 
imagination  loose,  and  I  have  said,  "I  will 
see  my  child  and  see  my  loved  ones  of  the 


220    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHEIST  LIFE 

days  gone  by  ;  what  they  loved  to  do  on 
earth,  they  are  doing  now,  and  what  I  love  to 
do  on  earth  I  shall  be  doing  then,  and  to- 
gether we  shall  walk  the  fields  of  God 
through  the  eternal  ages  I  I  can  see  them 
gathering  flowers,  I  can  hear  them  singing, 
and  I  can  see  them  in  the  joy  of  eternal 
youth,  in  the  presence  of  the  King,  in  the 
beauty  of  His  holiness.'^  I  see  them  all,  and 
yet  some  persons  say  that  is  a  wild  vision. 
It  is  not  wild,  it  cannot  be  wild,  because  the 
biggest  things  ever  attained,  the  greatest 
things  ever  longed  for,  and  the  highest  hopes 
that  ever  came  to  the  human  heart,  will  be 
filled  in  that  land. 

But  read  what  the  Book  says,  that  the  groans 
of  David  in  this  life  shall  be  turned  into  shouts 
of  victory  in  the  other  life  ;  the  Dead  March 
in  "Saul"  on  earth,  will  be  the  Hallelujah 
Chorus  in  heaven.     Oh,  it  is  all  coming. 

Once  in  a  wreck  on  the  Atlantic,  for 
twenty-two  days  we  drifted  about.  For 
twenty  of  these  days  we  were  in  suffering  for 
fear  of  immediate  death.  Storm,  darkness, 
no  view  of  the  sun,  drifting  over  the  wild, 
wild  ocean.  No  sight  of  a  ship,  and  the 
food  being  destroyed  in  the  hold,  no  fire,  and 
lashed  to  the  mast.  I  roped  myself  day  after 
day,  and  slept  standing  against  the  mast,  as 


I  SHALL  BE  SATISFIED  221 

the  water  curled  and  roared  and  hissed 
around  my  feet,  and  we  gave  up  all  hope. 
No  more,  I  thought,  shall  I  see  the  land  of 
America  ;  no  more  the  Stars  and  Stripes  ;  no 
more  the  little  home ;  no  more  the  wife  and 
the  children.  But  when  on  a  morning  off  the 
coast  of  Newfoundland  (we  knew  not  then 
what  land  it  was),  the  sun  burst  through  the 
clouds  and  sent  heavenly  halos  down  upon 
the  agitated  sea,  hope  began  to  rise  that  we 
might  yet  be  saved.  When  the  dark  clouds 
of  smoke  from  an  approaching  steamer  were 
seen  distinctly  on  the  horizon,  we  all  wept. 
We  could  not  talk.  If  we  endeavoured  to 
speak  a  word  we  burst  out  crying.  All 
cried,  sailors,  captain  and  passengers.  And 
when  that  steamer  came  in  sight,  and  with 
tears  streaming  down  our  faces,  we  watched 
its  course,  some  one  proposed  that  we 
sing  "  Praise  God  from  whom  all  blessings 
flow."  No  one  could  start  it.  Every  at- 
tempt to  utter  a  syllable  was  to  burst  into 
sobs  and  cries.  The  steamer  came  and  took 
us  in  tow  and  took  us  into  St.  John's,  and  we 
stepped  out  upon  the  shore.  All  was  back 
again,  land  and  houses.  We  were  coming 
home,  and  home  was  still  here  ;  wife  was  still 
here  ;  children  were  still  here ;  friends  still 
here  ;  all  was  ours  again. 


222    HOW  TO  LIVE  THE  CHRIST  LIFE 

Just  so  it  is  with  the  disappointed  life.  No 
matter  who  it  is  ;  no  matter  how  great  the 
loss,  just  so  sure  it  is  that  when,  out  of  the 
storm  and  out  of  the  disappointment  and 
despair  of  this  life,  we  come  in  sight  of  the 
heavenly  land,  then  will  all  be  brought  back 
again  that  was  worth  having  in  this  world. 
*'  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither 
hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  the 
things  which  the  Lord  hath  prepared  for 
them  that  love  Him."  If  you  love  Him, 
heaven  cannot  be  pictured  too  bright. 


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